THE former Leeds United managing director David Haigh has lost his latest legal battle from his Dubai jail cell and now has to pay the court costs totalling £230,000 to three people he accused of “human trafficking”.
Mr Haigh was formerly the deputy chief executive and general counsel of the Gulf Finance House (GFH), which owned Leeds United before current chairman Massimo Cellino.
He became managing director of the football club in July 2013, but was arrested in May 2014 on charges of misappropriating around $5m of GFH funds, by fabricating around 100 invoices, and paying into four different bank accounts in Dubai, London and Manchester.
He maintains he was lured to Dubai, where he was held without charge for more than a year before being sentenced to two years in prison.
Mr Haigh launched a private prosecution in London against solicitor Peter Gray and GFH executives Hisham Al Rayes and Jinesh Patel but the case was dismissed.
District Judge Ikram has now awarded costs totalling £229,500 against him after deciding “it was wholly improper to launch these proceedings”, The Lawyer reports.
