J.P. Mo official held in inquiry of Dubai bank

By MIRNA SLEIMAN
DIJBAI, United Arab Emirates-A senior Mideast executive at U.S. in- vestment bank J.P. Morgan chase & Co., is being detained in Dubai as part of a widening fraud investiga tion at Dubal Islamic Bank, a police official said Sunday.
Omair Mooraj, who joined J.P. Morgan in September as managing director and head of Islamic bank- ing for the region, is one of several people being held by Dubai police in the inquiry, the official told Zawya Dow Jones. A representative for J.P. Morgan in London declined to corn- ment on the matter when called, as did J.P. Morgan officials in Dubai.
Before joining J.P. Morgan, Mr. Mooraj was head of global project fi nance at Dubai Islamic Bank, the emirate's largest Shariah-compll ant lender. His departure from DIB was followed a month later by the re placement of then-Chief Executive Saad Abdul Razak.
Mr. Mooraj's detainment is the latest in a string of financial inquir ies in this Middle East boom town, which is enjoying an oil-fueled spending and investment binge. Western bankers and attorneys are flocking to the region, looking for capital and liquidity that has dried up in other places because of an eco noniic downturn in the West and a global credit crisis.
Dubai, one of seven emirates that make up the U.A.E., has embarked on a series of probes into the top-tier business community The in- quiries could go some way in clean- ing up its reputation for poor corpo rate governance and transparency as Dubai tries to attract more invest- ment.
DIB said Thursday that an inves tigation that has detained Rifat Us- mani, a vice president of structured fmance, and British Bahrain-based businessman Charles Ridley, won't impact the lender's earnings.
The police omcial also told Zawya Dow Jones Sunday that Ryan Cornelius, a British businessman with interests including a beach ho- tel in Kenya, was being detained as part of the investigation.
Simon Goldsmith, media-affairs officer at the British consulate in Dubai, confirmed the Embassy was aware that Mr. Cornelius is being held. "The Embassy is offering con- sular services" to both Britons in the inquiry, he said.
DIB's shares fell 1.5% to 8.82 U.A.E. dirhams ($2.40) each Sunday on the Dubai Financial Market.
The DIB probe coincides with an investigation into embezzlement at Deyaar Development PJSC, the Dubai-based real-estate company in which DIB owns a 41% stake. In April, the chief executive of Deyaar was detained as part of an investiga tion into financial wrongdoing.
-Andrew Critchiow
and Chip Cummins
contributed to this article.