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Sheikh Al-Thani, centre, with his lawyers at the trial on Thursday.
Sheikh Al-Thani denies all knowledge of pact as BlueBay case resumes

Sheikh Al-Thani denies all knowledge of pact as BlueBay case resumes

The Malaga CF president repeatedly denied any knowledge of a deal with the hotel group as the trial resumed on Thursday

ANTONIO GÓNGORA

Friday, 22 February 2019, 13:20

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The long-delayed 'BlueBay case' resumed on at the Ciudad de Justicia in Malaga on Thursday with Malaga CF president Sheikh Abdullah Al-Thani facing questions from lawyers representing BlueBay.

The hotel group is demanding that the conditions of a contract, which they say was signed with the sheikh and his associates in 2013, be honoured. They are calling for 49 per cent of shares in the club as well as control of its running.

However, when questioned on Thursday, the sheikh repeatedly denied any knowledge of any deal at the time: "I don't know anything about this. They never told me anything," he said repeatedly with the help of a translator.

Financial difficulties

With BlueBay's lawyers aiming to highlight Malaga CF's financial difficulties at the time, Al-Thani insisted that he knew nothing about this, nor the arrival of Gonzalo Hervás and his team to run the club. Al-Thani also denied knowledge of the existence of NAS Spain, the company which controlled the club's shares for a period of time.

When presented with documents which purportedly showed a written agreement, Al-Thani said: "I have never seen these documents and I never signed them."

He went on to say that at the time of the deal, in 2012, that he never authorised any such deal and that Moayad Shatat, club director at the time, only had administrative powers.

Several delays

The trial was postponed two years ago when Al-Thani's lawyers lodged a criminal complaint for falsehood and misappropriation against former Malaga CF directors Abdullah Ghubn and Moayad Shatat, and the head of BlueBay, Jamal Satli Iglesias, a day prior to the preliminary hearing.

With these complaints officially shelved, the trial was set to resume in December but on that occasion, however, it couldn't go ahead for procedural reasons with Ghubn not in attendance. Sources say that he never received notice that he needed to attend.

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