By Louis Goss
The chief executive of KPMG’s business in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has held a series of face-to-face meetings with key clients, in an effort to restore confidence in the accounting firm’s management, following reports a coup within the Emirati firm.
Nader Haffer, chief executive of KPMG Lower Gulf, hosted the client meetings after partners at the accounting firm’s UAE business sought to oust him from the firm, according to the Financial Times.
The coup came after partners in KPMG’s UAE business were pushed out of the firm after raising concerns around perceived conflicts-of-interest in the decision to appoint Haffer’s brother-in-law, Talal Cheik Elard, to a top-ranking position in the firm.
Partners also raised concerns around an election, in which Haffer faced no opposition, that secured the company’s chief’s tenure at the head of the UAE business for an additional five years.
KPMG Lower Gulf later said it would rerun the election as it vowed to bring in an external law firm to oversee the electoral process and review internal governance within the UAE firm.
A spokesperson for KPMG Lower Gulf said: “Given the recent questions in relation to our governance, and our ongoing commitment to the highest levels of public trust, the KPMG Lower Gulf Board has initiated a process to engage an independent, global law firm to conduct a review of its governance.”
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