Doha: In a not so common kind of criminal case in the Gulf country, Qatar’s former finance minister Ali Sherif al-Emadi will face a criminal trial following his 2021 arrest over embezzlement allegations, as per a state-run Qatar News Agency statement.
Al-Emadi was arrested in May 2021 but not much was known about his case. There are others also arraigned for similar offences, but their names are not yet known, QNA release on Sunday, quoted by Al-Jazeera.
“Since evidence extracted from the case documents proved that the accused committed the crimes ascribed to them, the Attorney General issued an order to refer the accused to the Criminal Court to punish them for the crimes ascribed to them, which included bribery, appropriation of public money, abuse of office, abuse of power, damage to public money and money laundering,” the QNA report said.
The report did not elaborate on how much money the former minister is accused of stealing.
Al-Emadi rose to prominence in Qatar, as the current emir ascended the throne and after overseeing the transformation of Qatar National Bank into the largest lender in the Middle East.
Once one of Qatar’s most powerful officials, Al-Emadi also served as chairman of the bank, on the board of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund and as president of the executive board of Qatar Airways.
Al-Emadi has so far not reacted publicly on the case.
Reuters news agency reported that Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani has said the investigation was related to his capacity as finance minister, and not to his posts at the sovereign fund or the bank.