Simon Charlton has joined Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi and Brothers Company (AHAB) as Chief Restructuring Officer and Acting Chief Executive Officer. Charlton, formerly of Deloitte Corporate Finance in Dubai, will be accompanied by two colleagues. Ben Jones will serve as Chief Financial Officer, to be assisted by Raef El Hassan as Deputy Chief Financial Officer. The new executive team will oversee all aspects of the company’s operations and management.
In 2009, the company retained Charlton, a managing director of Deloitte, as a senior financial adviser. A subsequent Deloitte investigation of AHAB’s financial position uncovered evidence that it was the victim of a massive fraud, in which Maan Al Sanea used forged documents, among other methods, to borrow from banks and financial institutions to fund a global Ponzi scheme.
In all, Al Sanea’s scheme left AHAB and its related entities with purported liabilities in the billions of dollars. Since that time, Charlton and his team, including Jones and Hassan, have served as lead advisors to AHAB, as the company faced legal challenges from several creditors and pursued recoverable assets from Al Sanea around the world.
In addition, the team has been negotiating settlements with the banks affected by the scheme, and assisting AHAB in a complete reorganization of its businesses.”Simon, Ben, Raef and the entire Deloitte team have played a key role in assisting AHAB during very challenging times,” Yousef Ahmad Algosaibi, Chairman of the Board of Directors of AHAB, said. “We have great confidence in their ability to navigate our current challenges and lead our businesses into a new era.”