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Apr 12: The board and management of troubled NMC Healthcare should be held accountable for the financial irregularities, said Abdulaziz Al Ghurair, chairman of the UAE Banks Federation.

"Banks have dealt with the exposure professionally and they lent to a company which was listed on FTSE-100 index with world-class regulator and the world's largest audit firm doing their audit. Even if they present their balance sheet today, people will still lend to them. This is a world-class fraud and the management and board members should be held accountable. We should have a different track to handle this company. It is not a normal track that we can go," Al Ghurair said during a virtual press conference on Sunday.

It is estimated that the more than 80 local, regional and international banks have exposure to healthcare firm. The UAE bourses had asked all the listed companies in the UAE to announce their exposure. The UAE banks last week announced nearly Dh10 billion exposure to NMC Healthcare, which is owned by the billionaire BR Shetty.

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank has the highest exposure to NMC at Dh3 billion. Dubai Islamic Bank and its subsidiary Noor Bank announced Dh2 billion exposure while Emirates NBD and its Shariah-compliant unit Emirates Islamic Bank revealed Dh747.34 million exposure. Ajman Bank has Dh151.8 million while Al Salam Bank pegged its exposure at Dh161.5 million. All these lenders revealed their exposure for the first time on Sunday.

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank said it had extended Dh1.07 billion in financing to NMC Healthcare, and an additional Dh113.67 million exposure to Islamic bonds issued by NMC.National Bank of Fujairah pegged its exposure to NMC at Dh289.1 million, while Sharjah-based United Arab Bank said its exposure was Dh135.3 million.

NMC recently revised its debt position to $6.6 billion, well above earlier estimates.

London's High Court last week placed hospital operator NMC Health into administration, on the application of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank.

"I know leading bank in UAE have already legal guardian of the company so now management cannot hide anything. The new team will manage and discover what happened," said Al Ghurair.

Bengaluru, Jan 5: A day after senior Congress leaders in Karnataka met to build consensus for the way ahead, the race for the post of KPCC President hotted up on Sunday with aspirants and their supporters stepping up efforts to secure the coveted posts.

Senior leader D K Shivakumar, seen as a frontrunner for the post, met former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at his residence amid reports that he was lobbying in favour of one of his confidants.

Meanwhile, another senior party legislator Satish Jarkiholi made it clear he was capable of discharging the responsibility if the high command asked him to do so.

Also, loyalists of senior leader and former Minister Ramalinga Reddy came up with social media posts, pushing forward his name for KPCC President.

Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah and state Congress chief Dinesh Gundu Rao quit their posts after the party fared poorly, winning only two of the 15 seats in the bypolls while it had held 12 of them.

According to party sources, though Siddaramaiah is likely to retain the position of Leader of Opposition, the CLP leader post may be given to some one else.

The sources also said replacement of KPCC President was most likely as Dinesh Gundu Rao's resignation could be accepted.

Shivakumar is seen as the frontrunner for the KPCC President post and has already held discussions with high command in this regard.

His meeting with Siddaramaiah, who is expected to travel to Delhi soon to hold discussions with the high command, assumes significance amid reports that the former chief minister was favouring one of his confidants for the post.

Shivakumar during the meeting sought Siddaramaiah's cooperation for his appointment to the coveted post, with a promise to work under his leadership, sources said.

However, speaking to reporters after the meeting, Shivakumar said he had worked under Siddaramaiah as legislator and Minister, and there was nothing special about the nearly two-hour-long meeting.

"...Im not a competitor for any post, I won't ask for any post, that time is over. I'm a karyakarta of the party and will work as karyakarta," he said in response to a question, adding he will abide by the party's decision.

On the other hand, Congressleader andYamakanamaradi MLASatish Jarkiholi said he was ready to take up the responsibility if the party high command decides so.

"It has been decided to cooperate and work under the leadership of anyone, whom the party high command decides (as President). Let's see, it is for the high command to decide (who will be KPCC President)," he said.

In response to a question from reporters in Belagavi if he was aspiring for the post, Jarikholi said, "I havent asked, but if given I will manage it efficiently..."

Meanwhile, loyalist of seven-time Congress MLA Ramalinga Reddy, came up with a social media post, demanding KPCC President post for the leader.

"Seven-time @INCKarnataka MLA and former Home Minister Sri @RLR_BTM for #KPCC President. #Congress #Karnataka #RamalingaReddy #BTMLayout #BBMP #Bengaluru," former Mayor of Bengaluru City and a close confidant of Reddy, B N Manjunatha Reddy tweeted.

Last year during the political turmoil faced by the coalition government, Ramalinga Reddy had threatened to resign, unhappy at being sidelined in the party.

He had later decided to stay with the Congress after the high command intervened.

With a virtual vacuum in the state Congress following the resignation of its top leadership after the rout in the recent Assembly bypolls, senior party leaders had met here on Saturday with an aim to build a consensus for the way ahead.

According to sources, the meeting was convened after instructions from the high command to iron out differences and build consensus on taking the party forward and regarding appointments to key posts, before coming to Delhi for discussions.

Senior leader K H Muniyappa and KPCC Working President Eshwar Khandreare seen as the other aspirants for the President post.

Ssenior leaders G Parameshwara along with H K Patil are among those seen as the frontrunners for the CLP leader post vacated by Siddaramaiah.

Dubai, May 3: Over 150,000 Indians in the UAE, who wish to return home amid the coronavirus lockdown, have applied through the online registration process to the Indian missions here, according to media reports.

The Indian missions in the country last week opened online registration for the expatriates who wish to fly back home after getting stuck in the country amidst the lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As of 6 pm on Saturday, we received more than 150,000 registrations, Consul General of India in Dubai Vipul told the Gulf News on Saturday.

A quarter of them want to return to their homeland after losing their jobs, he said.

According to a report in the Khaleej Times on Sunday, about 40 per cent of the applicants who have registered are blue-collared workers and 20 per cent are working professionals.

"Roughly 20 per cent have suffered job losses and about 55 per cent of the total applicants are from Kerala," Neeraj Aggarwal, Consul, Press, Information, Culture was quoted as saying in the report.

Aggarwal said that the figures would change as they are expecting registrations from workers from other states, including Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar.

About 10 per cent of the applicants are visit and tourist visa holders who got stranded here due to the ongoing lockdown in India.

India extended the ongoing lockdown by two weeks from May 4 to contain the spread of the coronavirus that has affected nearly 40,000 people in the country.

Aggarwal said that a small number of the applications constitute those from pregnant women and other medical cases.

Since the online registration process was launched, the Consulate's website crashed several times due to the heavy rush of applicants wishing to register to fly back home.

The site has been working fine now though it took a lot of time for it to stabilise in the initial phase due to the heavy traffic, the counsel general said.

He said that the missions here have not yet received any information from the Indian government about the mode of transport of the stranded citizens, the prices of the tickets or how the COVID-19 test results of applicants would be assessed for their journey.

There are high-level discussions going on regarding these things, he said in the report.

Meanwhile, Norka (The Non Resident Keralites Affairs) said it has received a total of 398,000 applications from Keralites across the globe who wish to return home.

"Of which, the highest numbers are from the UAE. At least 175,423 applicants have signed up from the UAE," Norka said in an official statement on Saturday.

It also received 54,305 registrations from Saudi Arabia, 2,437 from the UK, 2,255 from the US, and 1,958 from Ukraine from those who wish to return to India, the Khaleej Times reported.

The coronavirus has infected 13,599 people and claimed 119 lives in the UAE, the Ministry of Health and Prevention said on Saturday.