Leeds United’s former managing director David Haigh has applied for a private prosecution against two senior executives at the club’s previous owners over an alleged plot to lure him to Dubai last May, where he was arrested and has since been held in a police cell without charge.
Haigh’s application to Westminster magistrates court seeks arrest warrants to be issued against the Gulf Finance House chief executive, Hisham Alrayes, and Jinesh Patel, chief executive of the Dubai subsidiary GFH Capital. Haigh claims they “conspired to defraud” by “agreeing dishonestly to deceive” him into travelling to Dubai with the promise of a job for GFH, when in fact they were planning to have him arrested and “procuring indefinite imprisonment, without charge, in very poor conditions”.
GFH, an investment bank based in Bahrain which took over Leeds from Ken Bates in 2012 then sold 75% of the club to the Italian Massimo Cellino last year, has accused Haigh of defrauding it of £3m by issuing false invoices. Haigh denies that, and is defending the civil claim GFH has launched against him in the Dubai International Financial Centre Court.
GFH accepts that it did inform the police in Dubai about its allegations, and when Haigh arrived at the GFH Capital office on 18 May last year, for what he believed was an interview for the job of opening a London office, he was arrested. Haigh has been held since then with three other prisoners at the Bur Dubai police station in a cell built for two, among 60 prisoners in a block designed to accommodate 32. He has not been charged and says he has not even been questioned by police. In his application, Haigh says he fears influential people in Dubai connected to GFH have been involved in his arrest and will seek a maximum sentence for him; GFH denies having any such influence.
Haigh’s private prosecution application alleges that Alrayes and Patel “schemed and actively took steps to convince me to fly to Dubai” last May by offering the prospect of the job in London and payment of outstanding salary, expenses and commissions that Haigh claims he was owed. In a statement with the application, Haigh sets out a series of exchanges with Alrayes on WhatsApp instant messaging, in which he claims Alrayes told him the London posting would be his if he impressed in an interview with a senior GFH figure, Dr Khalid AlKhazraji.
The statement claims that on 11 May, Alrayes messaged Haigh to say: “Hi, for GFH I told Jinesh to arrange for meeting with Dr Khalid – to see you for GFH office in London. Hence no settlement will be required [of money Haigh claimed were outstanding] but resume [sic] of salary.”
Haigh claims he sought repeatedly to clarify that GFH did have this role for him and that on 17 May, Patel messaged him saying: “It is up to you on whether the potential role being mooted is worth pursuing. Hisham wants to back you with a budget if you accept (and are endorsed by the board members).”
Patel and Alrayes have not commented on the allegation that they lured Haigh to Dubai with the false offer of a job prospect, when in fact they had complained to the police about him and knew he was to be arrested. In a statement GFH said: “There is absolutely no merit in this threat,” and described the private prosecution application as a “desperate and bizarre attempt by David Haigh to divert attention from the circumstances of his detention”. The firm emphasised there is “credible evidence” Haigh committed frauds against GFH Capital, which they said “is being properly investigated by the relevant authorities in Dubai”.
If Haigh, who is being represented by Alun Jones QC, succeeds with his application, warrants will be issued for the arrests of Alrayes and Patel.
