Ownership row: Julia, Grant stake claim for MNS-B

Manama : Julia Jefferson and Grant Jefferson hope to regain control over Multinational School Bahrain (MNS-B) after the school was “taken over” by their local partners, they said.

The duo, who live in Saudi Arabia, are founders of Multinational group of schools. 

They set up the school in Bahrain in 2013 with local partners after their successes in setting up and running two schools in Saudi Arabia. 

They remain part owners of the school with a combined 50 per cent ownership but are currently not involved in the management of the school.

They have been in dispute with the other partners since November 27, 2016. According to them, the school was unjustly taken over by partners.

“Under the agreement we had with our partners, we have the rights to manage and to administer the school academically, administratively and financially. We are 50 per cent owners, we own 25 per cent each, this can be seen on the Bahrain Ministry of Industry and Commerce website. Also, we are the exclusive manager of the school under our agreement  with  our  partners,”  Julia Jefferson told DT News.

“We have invested so much into this school and we have brought it up from the initial stages. The school enjoys a high reputation here, it is regarded as one of the best in the Kingdom. Our experience in running the schools in Saudi Arabia helped us in succeeding here.” said Grant Jefferson.

In an email to DT News, they explained that it was not their decision to stop their involvement in the school. 

“On 27th November, 2016 nearly all the funds in the school’s bank account, opened by all the school company shareholders, were transferred to a bank account opened by our partners in the school without our knowledge.  At that time we also received a letter from a lawyer representing one of our partners stating that we were not to interfere in the administration of the school and its affairs, and not to be present on the school site or contact any of its employees. Our rights to administer the school were removed by a series of illegal acts starting on 27th November, 2016,” they said.

Allegations dismissed

They said that they never given any explanation as to why the school management was taken over by the partners. They dismissed allegations regarding related party transactions. 

“The school’s accounts are audited each year. Two financial audits have been completed of the school and these have been submitted to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. 

The auditors were confident in the financial management of the school and these were unanimously approved by the entire Board of the school,” they said in the email.

Responding to allegations, they said quality standards at the school never dropped when they managed the school. “We have successfully operated the school. The school opened with about 40 children and in November 2016 had more than 600 children.  We believe this reflects the growing reputation of the school.  We have never received any notification from the Ministry of Education that they were not satisfied with the standard of education that the students were receiving at the school.  In addition, to date the Bahrain QQA has not completed an inspection school and given the school a quality rating” they said. 

They told DT News that they will be taking legal action against the partners.