Graham Garner

Part of the estimated $5.5 million allegedly looted from the First Cayman Bank/Gulf Union Bank group in 1997 went to satisfy a $1.75 million fraud judgment in the United States, according to the liquidators.The fraud had been committed by Sheikh Abdus Shimmy Qureshi and his now defunct Florida firm Escue Management Inc., it was alleged.

After a hearing that lasted half a day, the Bahamas Supreme Court officially placed Gulf Union Bank (Bahamas) into liquidation on March 26 but deferred a decision on whether to appoint the current provisional liquidators as permanent liquidators. The court first ruled on two preliminary legal issues regarding the competence and appropriateness of the National Insurance Board, which is a government agency, in being allowed to petition for the winding-up of the bank.