Abu Dhabi arrests former IPIC chief

(MMO) – Khadem al-Qubaisi, the former managing director of International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), has been arrested in Abu Dhabi for a fraud investigation linked to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

According to the Wall Street Journal, al-Qubaisi was detained last week over his alleged role in defrauding the Malaysian state investment firm as detailed in the United States’ Justice Department lawsuit to seize assets linked to 1MDB.

The UAE previously seized al-Qubaisi’s travel documents and froze all his assets.

IPIC sacked al-Qubaisi last year and he was later accused of corruption involving deals between the Abu Dhabi sovereign fund and 1MDB.

Al-Qubaisi was among key figures identified in the DOJ lawsuit to recover more than US$1 billion in assets linked to 1MDB, which was described as the largest case ever brought by the country’s Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative.