ISLAMABAD: Following courting by Michael Portillo, Qatar entered into an arms deal worth £500 million with BAE Systems. £7 million was transferred into two trusts in Jersey of which Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim was named as a beneficiary.
According to details, in an attempt to prevent money laundering, the funds were frozen from 16 July 2000 by the Jersey Financial Services Commission, who then began a court case and investigation.
Hamad paid the Jersey authorities £6 million as “voluntary reparation” as “the structures put in place by his advisers may have contributed to the cost and complexity of the inquiry”. The case was then dropped by the Jersey authorities.
As noted in the Isle of Jersey Royal Court’s December 2, 2002 decision in Between Jersey Evening Post and Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Japer Al-Thani and others, a “press release issued on behalf of the Attorney General on 28th May 2002 with the agreement of the legal advisers of Sheikh Hamad.
That press release indicated that a criminal investigation into the conduct of Sheikh Hamad was at an end”. (Source: Between Jersey Evening Post and Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Japer Al-Thani, and four additional respondents, Royal Court (Samedi Division), Case No. 2002-227, at paragraph 7. The actual text of the Jersey Attorney General’s May 28, 2002 press release could not be located.
According to the May 28, 1999 decision by the Jersey Royal Court, following Hamad’s ouster as Emir in 1995, Qatar instituted legal proceedings, alleging that Hamad transferred public funds to private accounts.
The Royal Court wrote, “On November 9th, 1998 the Deputy Bailiff made an Order ex parte at the instance of the State of Qatar restraining the defendant, inter alia, from removing any of his assets from the jurisdiction save to the extent that those assets exceeded GBP 913m.
The history of the matter, as it appears from the Order of Justice, is as follows. The defendant was Emir of Qatar from 1972 until 1995. On June 27th, 1995, he was removed from office.
The Government of Qatar opened an enquiry into the defendant’s use of public funds entrusted to him whilst he was Emir. It is alleged that substantial amounts of public funds had been transferred during his reign to accounts around the world in violation of Qatari law.
A significant part of those funds is said to have come from overdrafts of the defendant in the accounts of the Emiri Diwan at the Qatar National Bank. In June 1996, the plaintiff commenced proceedings against, inter alia, the defendant and obtained a Mareva injunction against his assets with certain third parties in Jersey.
Parallel proceedings were commenced against the defendant in a number of other jurisdictions. In October 1996, the action was settled upon terms which were amended by an addendum in February 1997.
The plaintiff [Qatar] now claims that the defendant has failed to comply with the terms of the settlement. In November 1998, the plaintiff commenced attachment proceedings against the defendant in Switzerland as well as bringing proceedings before this court and elsewhere.”
The Royal Court dismissed Hamad’s appeal against the order. As noted in the Royal Court’s December 2, 2002 decision in Between Jersey Evening Post and Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Japer Al-Thani and four additional respondents, a “press release issued on behalf of the Attorney General on 28th May 2002 with the agreement of the legal advisers of Sheikh Hamad.
That press release indicated that a criminal investigation into the conduct of Sheikh Hamad was at an and that the Sheikh had voluntarily paid GBP 6 million towards the costs of the investigation into the affairs of his three Jersey trusts.” (Royal Court (Samedi Division), Case No. 2002-227, at paragraph 7. See also, Anthony Lewis, “The Qatar Case,” Jersey Evening Post, March 24, 2003; Jimmy Burns and Michael Peel, “SFO is ‘actively’ pursuing corruption allegations,” Financial Times, February 8, 2007. The actual text of the Jersey Attorney General’s May 28, 2002 press release could not be located.)
As noted in the Royal Court’s December 2, 2002 decision in Between Jersey Evening Post and Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Japer Al-Thani and four additional respondents, a “press release issued on behalf of the Attorney General on 28th May 2002 with the agreement of the legal advisers of Sheikh Hamad.
That press release indicated that a criminal investigation into the conduct of Sheikh Hamad was at an end and that the Sheikh had voluntarily paid GBP 6 million towards the costs of the investigation into the affairs of his three Jersey trusts.” (Source: Royal Court (Samedi Division), Case No. 2002-227, at paragraph 7.)
As noted by the Jersey Royal Court in its May 28, 1999 decision in State of Qatar v. Al Thani [1999 JLR 118], Qatar had commenced proceedings against Sheikh Hamad, alleging that he had transferred public funds in violation of Qatari law and obtained a Mareva injunction against his assets in Jersey. Though a settlement was then reached, Sheikh Hamad failed to comply with its terms and Qatar obtained an order containing a further Mareva injunction.
The decision noted that Sheikh Hamad was the Emir of Qatar from 1972 to 1995. After he was removed from office in June 1995, Qatar opened an inquiry into his use of public funds and alleged that substantial amounts of public funds had been transferred during his reign to accounts around the world, in violation of Qatari law. In October 1996, Sheikh Hamad reached a settlement agreement but failed to comply with its terms. Qatar then commenced attachment proceedings in Switzerland and elsewhere.