Chronology: Maan Al Sanea, Legal Cases in the UK and Cayman Islands

Legal proceedings against Maan Al Sanea and his companies have been underway in the United Kingdom on many fronts, not least of all due to the properties and other assets owned by Al Sanea, his family or his companies, but as many of the contracts he has refused or to honour or ignored have included the clause that they be ‘governed by and construed in accordance with’ English law, with an irrevocable and unconditional submission to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts. Even though it has been noted that the actual words used in the clause are not England but 'the United Kingdom', Al Sanea’s contracts concede to English law and English non-exclusive jurisdiction.

On this basis numerous cases against have passed through the UK legal system since 2011. An interesting point common to all is how each court and case grants the desire to dispense with service, which means asking a court to waive the standard requirement of formally delivering legal documents, such as a claim form, to a party, usually because it's impossible or impractical after diligent efforts, allowing the case to proceed without that official notice, often in exceptional situations like divorce or when someone evades service, by proving you've tried everything reasonable. Al Sanea’s agreements and contracts discussed above include: ‘all Notices served shall be sufficiently served on [the Defendant] if delivered to PO Box 3250 Al Khobar 31952 Saudi Arabia’, although Al Sanea has formally received or accepted almost no documents at this address or any other. Since being imprisoned, he has not received or accepted documents at Al Khobar prison. The UK courts have treated this before as a consistent failure to interact with the creditors, authorities and lawyers who have attempted to communicate with him.[1]

Following the 2009 collapse of the Saad Group, UK Commercial Court proceedings were initiated by Saad-linked entities and creditors against Al Sanea, focusing on: the enforcement of financial obligations, jurisdiction and service issues and early asset and disclosure disputes.

Known as an offshore tax haven, Al Sanea registered many of the Saad Group’s companies in the Cayman Islands, which has become a focus of creditors’ legal attempts to retrieve monies owed. The Cayman Islands as a nation has reached this level of involvement in wide-reaching international litigations as its government imposes no corporate, income, capital gains, inheritance, gift, or property taxes for residents and non-residents alike; its local laws have historically protected business information and banking secrecy; it promotes straightforward company registration which allows for the creation of entities like exempt or shell companies that operate primarily offshore with minimal local requirements; and it has created a robust financial sector: The islands have a highly developed financial services industry with a stable political climate and a large presence of global banks and accounting firms.

The trial between the Al Gosaibi family and Al Sanea became one of the biggest trials in Cayman Islands history and was in court for a whole year. When the Saudi Arabian hospitality, food and real estate group Ahmad Hamad Al Gosaibi and  Brothers (AHAB) collapsed in 2009 Ahab was unable to repay the $6bn in claims against it, leading to eight years of legal and financial actions in the Middle East, London, New York and the Cayman Islands against Al-Sanea, who the family believes engaged in unauthorised borrowing from the company and redirected proceeds to his own companies, mainly based in the Cayman Islands.

The Cayman trial revolved around the claim that the Al-Gosaibi family was the victim of a fraud that totalled $9.2bn conducted by Al-Sanea. More than 100 banks in Saudi Arabia, the wider Arabian Gulf region and the rest of the world are still owed billions of dollars in unpaid loans.

Before all the problems are fixed, Simon Charlton, the executive officer and chief restructuring officer of the company, predicts that about $1 billion would have been spent globally on solicitors, accountants and professional advisers.

"This has to end. For the entire situation, including the lawsuit and liquidation procedure, the professional expenses have reached the hundreds of millions of dollars, Charlton told the publication Arab News. "I wouldn't be shocked if the final fees total more than $500 million, possibly even $1 billion." According to him, the Cayman trial alone might cost tens of millions of dollars.[2]

The outcome may have an impact on how much is paid to Ahab's creditors. In an agreement reached last year with creditors owing $6 billion from the collapse, Charlton has committed to reimburse money obtained from Al Sanea, revealing in 2017 that the majority of banks and other creditors had agreed to a settlement that would provide them a guaranteed minimum of 25 cents for every dollar due, with the possibility of receiving up to 50 cents depending on how Al Sanea's legal procedures pan out.

[1] High Court of Justice, Almeqham Vs Al Sanea and Others, 14 February 2025

[2] Frank Kane, Fees over collapse of Al-Gosaibi Saudi business empire ‘could hit $1 billion’, Arab News, 02 July 2017