HIGH ROLLER'S BANK TO BE SUED FOR UNPAID WAGERS

15 February 2008

Grosvenor casino seeks recover of GBP 7.36 million


This week will see the start of a London court action in which banking rules will be challenged by a UK land casino group in its attempt to recover GBP 7.36 million in unpaid wagers by high rolling Ahmed Al-Reyaysa.

The cheque bouncer was a regular at Grosvenor's Clermont Club in 1999 and 2000, whose cheques for GBP 3.07 million and GBP 3.61 million proved to be of the rubber variety, leaving the casino firm unpaid.

Grosvenor Casinos claims that the bank verbally agreed to honour GBP 6.7 million in cheques written by Al-Reyaysa, who patronised upmarket London gaming dens such as the Ritz, Aspinalls and the Clermont Club. During his 18-month membership at the Clermont, which was sold by Grosvenor in 2006, Al-Reyaysa gambled more than GBP 150 million.
The Grosvenor Casino action in the Royal Courts of Justice in London against the National Bank of Abu Dhabi will see banking conventions that underpin the free flow of money around the globe challenged, reports The Telegraph newspaper.

Grosvenor group, which has sold the Clermont to Malaysian billionaire Quek Leng Chan, won a court judgment against Al-Reyaysa, a 45-year-old businessman from the United Arab Emirates, in May 2001 but claims it has yet to see a penny. It has taken action against his bank on the grounds that it is allegedly "bound by verbal approval to honour" the two cheques.

The bank's view is that it has no liability, and it has twice tried unsuccessfully to have the action struck off. Grosvenor - owned by bingo operator Rank plc - says the bank has a duty of honour to pay the cheques under the "uniform rules of collection" - governing the collection practices for cheques and bills of exchange drawn up by the International Chamber of Commerce.

Lawyers for Grosvenor claim if a precedent is set, banks could be bound to the rules, which are not currently legally enforceable and have never been tested in court. Grosvenor says if NBAD wins the case "the integrity of the system of international finance is undermined as a bank will have to wait for funds to clear before any goods can be released".

Grosvenor claims both cheques were given verbal approval by Mohammed Subh Al Sarraj, general manager of the Ajman branch of NBAD at the time. Grosvenor is seeking a total of up to GBP 9 million, including interest and gaming tax paid to the Inland Revenue.

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