Alba will “accomplish the goal” of recovering the very large amounts of its cash unlawfully siphoned off, the company’s chairman said following the arrest of a Canadian billionaire businessman in a fraud case originally filed by the Bahrain smelter.
Victor Dahdaleh was arrested after the UK’s Serious Fraud Office brought charges of bribery, conspiracy and acquiring and transferring criminal property in violation of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 against him.
Alba, in a statement, said the charges related to the activities of Dahdaleh and his company, AA Alumina & Chemicals Ltd, in connection with a series of corrupt transactions that targeted Alba over many years.
The investigation by the Serious Fraud Office, as well as companion investigations by the US Department of Justice and the Attorney General of Switzerland, followed the filing of a civil suit, in the United States District Court in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, against Dahdaleh, the US-based company Alcoa, and a group of other related individual and corporate defendants.
The suit against Dahdaleh and Alcoa was filed by Alba under the US Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations (RICO) Act and seeks recovery of damages suffered by Alba due to that corrupt scheme. That action was stayed by the US District Court, at the request of the US Department of Justice, in order to permit the federal criminal investigation to proceed, Alba said.
Speaking from Manama following Dahdaleh’s arrest, Alba chairman Mahmood Al Kooheji stated the development marked a critical point in the investigation that began nearly five years ago.
“The conduct of Victor Dahdaleh, Alcoa and others resulted in substantial losses to Alba and its shareholders,” Al-Kooheji said. “Our aim, from the start, has been to recover the very large amounts of money that were unlawfully taken from Alba and from Bahrain by these corrupt activities. We intend to accomplish this goal.”
Alba said it had to date recovered more than $30 million from European companies that participated in this scheme. In December 2009, Alba filed suit against the Japanese trading company Sojitz in the United States District Court in Houston, Texas, in connection with a large-scale bribery scheme involving the sale price for finished aluminum sold by Alba.
