Man City sheikh was ‘shadow owner' of hospital tainted by fraud, claims EY
The Emirati royal had links to two Emirati businessmen accused of stealing billions from the former FTSE 100 company, the accountancy giant has alleged.
It was claimed his connections to NMC Health saw it shielded from proper scrutiny, meaning banks ignored 'red flags' to lend billions to the London-listed healthcare giant before its 2020 collapse.
EY made the claims in submissions to the High Court as it seeks to defend itself against a £2bn lawsuit brought forward by bankruptcy administrator Alvarez & Marsal.
The 'big four' firm claims Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan had close ties to two of NMC Health's top shareholders, Saeed and Khalifa bin Butti.
They are accused of stealing billions from the healthcare company alongside BR Shetty, its founder.
More than £3bn secret debt
The three shareholders, who together owned two thirds of all shares in NMC Health, are accused of defrauding the company by borrowing more than $4bn (£3bn) worth of secret debt.
Dr Shetty has instead claimed he was the victim of a wider fraud. The High Court subsequently froze Dr Shetty's assets in 2022, including a luxury London penthouse.
EY claims fraudsters inside NMC Health used their links to Sheikh Mansour to secure loans from banks, who were willing to lend billions to the chain headquartered in Abu Dhabi because of the Emirati royal's 'name' and credibility.
The accounting firm's submissions to the High Court say: 'The evidence ... suggests that Sheikh Mansour stood behind the Bin Buttis in some informal way, making him effectively a shadow owner of NMC.'
Sheikh Mansour's links to NMC Health were 'well understood in the region,' EY's submissions add.
It claimed that banks conducted due diligence with the 'lightest of touches' due to the credibility given to the company by the Emirati royal.
NMC Health's lenders 'failed to take obvious steps to protect their own interests by conducting proper due diligence on the loans they were advancing to the NMC Group,' EY's submissions to the High Court say.
Sheikh Mansour is a member of Abu Dhabi's royal family, and is currently the United Arab Emirate's vice president. The Emirati billionaire is also the owner of Manchester City Football Club.
The accountancy giant says Alvarez & Marsal have also 'shied away' from pursuing the Bin Butti brothers, because of their links to Sheikh Mansour.
EY's submissions to the High Court say: 'No serious attempt seems to have been made to pursue the money stolen by the Bin Buttis.'
The claims come as EY is accused of 'extremely serious' failings in its audits of NMC Health that resulted in the accountancy giant allegedly missing one of the biggest frauds ever involving a London-listed company.
Alvarez & Marsal claims EY's accountants 'never even opened the books' at NMC Health. EY said it was a 'principal target and victim' of the alleged fraud.
Lawyers for the accountancy firm separately accused Abdul Rahman Basaddiq, the former head of EY's Abu Dhabi office, of having enabled the fraud. At a hearing on Wednesday, lawyers for EY told the High Court that Mr Basaddiq was 'plainly a fraudster'.
The Bin Butti brothers did not respond to Telegraph requests for comment. Khalifa bin Butti told The Times in 2020 that 'any suggestion that I have been involved in wrongdoing is categorically rejected'.
Abdul Rahman Basaddiq did not respond to requests for comment.
An EY spokesman said: 'This was a complex, pervasive and collusive fraud, and responsibility for it lies squarely with its perpetrators, including NMC's owners, directors and the treasury and finance team.
'This case is without merit and the full extent of this unprecedented fraud – of which EY was one of the targets – will be exposed during the course of the trial.'
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