Dubai Property Market – Flippers, skippers, runners, survivors battle it out

source PropertyWeekly

‘Flipping’, ‘skipping’ and ‘running’ are relatively new terms in the argot of Dubai’s property market. Many would know about at least one person who has done one of the three ‘disrespectful’ things, and may even be aware of several more via the city’s thriving rumour mill.

The residents who remain also have a new nomenclature for themselves — the ‘survivors’.

New players experiment with speculation

Flipping was hitherto the activity of buying and selling property instantly, and solely for instant profit. Despite the impression that this dangerous game is a thing of yore and was once the exclusive prerogative of high risk takers, it is not, and has attracted new players.

Flipping was once restricted to incomplete properties, but they are now doing it with credit notes. Also, flippers are not necessarily risk takers; some are trying to recover investments gone awry, while others are desperate for much needed cash.

Offloading multiple units

AR is a classic flipper. In December 2007, he owned three apartments — on paper — at various buildings in Dubai Marina. By September 2008, he had sold two for a cumulative profit of Dh1.23 million, despite the fact that both were not ready for occupation.

“I am lucky that I disposed them of before it was time to start paying my mortgages and before the economic downturn,” he says. “If things get bad, I will move into the one I still own, so no money lost. But, many other people who acted impulsively have done badly. I know some really sad stories and consider myself blessed.”

However, despite his narrow escape from steep losses, AR cannot shed his innate instincts. When questioned, he admits that he has purchased a credit note for 60 per cent of its face value, and is looking for a buyer who will take it off him for a profit.

Skippers caved in

Skippers are other risk takers like AR, but who didn’t have the sense, instincts, or gumption to offload their properties when the market soured. When they could not find buyers and saw alarming drops in prices, they caved.

Faced with the prospect of bounced cheques, rising debts and the threat of unemployment, some of these foolhardy investors just upped and left, or skipped.

Skippers are not available for quotes, but TQ who left the country in the first week of February is believed to have invested in no less than six properties across the country. A feat made possible by two facts: he was the creative director of an advertising agency and had a substantial salary, and he dealt with an Islamic bank that allows customers to have multiple mortgages.

Coincidentally, the day he lost his job is also the day he realised that the next set of payments towards his property portfolio totalled Dh246,000, and also, that there were no prospects of serious buyers on the anvil, for any of them.

Forfeiting down payments

His simple solution was to forfeit the nominal down payments he had made on the said properties, and to head back to his native country to sit out the storm. In his case, he paid off his credit cards, cleared his lesser debts, and told his bank that he was giving up his claim on the many apartments he owned.

Trail of debts

Runners, on the other hand, don’t bother doing any of the latter or the formalities associated with relocating from the country. One minute they are in Dubai, revelling in their enviable status as the owners of several properties, and the next minute, they are simply missing from the country, with only the trail of debts proving they lived here. They could now be anywhere.

Finally, those who have heard the horror stories and heaved heavy sighs say they too need a moniker for not falling into any of the above categories.

Ordinary residents who continue to pay rent on their homes, have strongly resisted the urge to invest in property. Those who actually live in the properties they purchased say they are just holding tight.

BJ owns a modest studio flat at The Greens and his brother MJ rents a one-bedroom apartment at Dubai Marina, and by their own admission, they worry about the appalling state of the world, just as much as they are alarmed about their own job security… or the possible lack of it.

According to MJ, their mission is to put away and save as much money as they can every month just so that they are not taken unawares by any unpleasant surprises — be it falling prices, increased rents, unexpected payments or unplanned debts.

“All those people we hear about have titles that classify them into categories. We believe that the rest of us who live in Dubai and eke out an everyday existence without running, skipping or flipping need one too. Just call us the ‘survivors’,” say the brothers.

And they are not being sardonic.

Flippers now deal in credit notes

• Despite the impression that flipping is a thing of yore and was once the exclusive prerogative of high risk takers, it has attracted new players
• Flipping was once restricted to incomplete properties, but they are now doing it with credit notes
• Also, flippers are not necessarily risk takers; some are trying to recover investments gone awry, while others are desperate for much needed cash
• Skippers are other risk takers, but who didn’t have the sense, instincts, or gumption to offload their properties when the market soured
• Runners simply go missing from the country, leaving behind a huge trail of debts

Al Fajer Properties Case – Zadeh says he’s a victim of a system in which the rulers can manipulate police and the courts to protect their business

Al Fajer Properties Dubai 2009 , Sheikh Maktoum Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoum

source

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — In this Gulf city-state, two things have long been untouchable: business interests and the ruling family. However, an attempt to sue a member of the family over an alleged financial swindle is a sign of how much the economic crisis has rattled business as usual here.

Shahram Abdullah Zadeh accuses the brother-in-law , sheikh Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoum, of Dubai’s emir illegally of taking over his real-estate firm Al Fajer Properties and having him detained by police to help the swindle.

Zadeh, a 37-year-old Iranian national who has lived in Dubai all his life, brought a civil case against the brother-in-law and his son Sheikh Maktoum Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoum to get his firm Al Fajer Properties back, a rare move. Even more surprising, shrahm Zadeh tried to raise criminal charges, but that step went nowhere because prosecutors rejected it.

The case has raised questions about whether Dubai really is what it claims to be: A boomtown where international businessmen can safely invest and turn a profit; or rather, a nest of cronyism and connections where royal blood can still trump entrepreneurial effort.

Such questions were largely ignored by everyone – businessmen and politicians alike – as long as the cash was rolling in during Dubai’s stunning expansion over the past decade. But now the emirate has hit the skids in the world financial crisis.

“During the boom, Dubai’s shortcomings were glossed over, but now that the economy is struggling, it’s becoming a different story,” said Christopher Davidson, an author of two books on the United Arab Emirates and a lecturer at Durham University in Britain.

Dubai’s emir, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, led the emirate’s vast financial ambitions. But business ran far ahead of the effort to modernize legislation in what remains a traditional Arab monarchy, where the ruler and his family hold final say.

Now the government has been trying to rein in some fast-and-loose business practices. About a dozen former executives are in custody for various investigations. Some have close ties to the government, but none of those in custody are related to the ruling family.

Zadeh’s case goes farther – breaking to taboo of questioning Dubai’s leadership. Zadeh says he’s a victim of a system in which the rulers can manipulate police and the courts to protect their business.

“If Dubai cannot provide security for foreign investors, they might as well switch off all the lights,” he said.

Attempts over the past weeks by The Associated Press to contact the brother-in-law, Sheikh Hasher Maktoum bin Juma’a Al Maktoum, were unsuccessful. Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoumand his company attorneys did not return repeated phone calls or respond to interview requests.

In the first session of Zadeh’s civil case, Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoum and his lawyers failed to appear. In the second a week ago, his lawyer asked the court for more time to study the allegations. The case is to resume May 4.

Zadeh and the Sheikh Maktoum Hasher Al Maktoum went into business in 2004. Foreigners are allowed to deal in property only after finding an Emirati sponsor to officially register a company. The usual practice is for the Emirati sponsor to give his signature for an annual fee or profit share. Several members of the sprawling ruling family are involved in such deals.

Zadeh set up a firm, Al Fajer Properties, and was chief executive while Sheikh  Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoum held the trade license. The firm was profitable and is now worth about $2 billion, according to Zadeh. But the partnership soured over delays in building a commercial tower, Juemirah Business Centre.

Zadeh said in an affidavit to Dubai’s attorney general that he was arrested in February 2008 and held for 60 days. He says he was never charged with any crime but was questioned over his business – including the combination of his safe.

While Zadeh was in detention, Sheikh Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoum took over the company Al Fajer Properties by appointing his son Sheik Maktoum Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoum as chief executive, ousting Zadeh, according to Zadeh’s filing. When he was released, Zadeh says he found his office safe had been cleaned of documents showing he was the owner of Al Fajer Properties and Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoums partner.

Zadeh also says police tried to push him to sign a document saying he had no connection to Al Fajer Properties. He submitted to the court

Al Fajer documents listing him as CEO and transactions that his lawyers contend show he was the sole investor. The Associated Press was given a copy.

Sheikh Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoum  “thought he could do it all because he’s a Sheik,” Zadeh said.

Police refused to comment on whether Zadeh was detained. Shahram Zadeh says they continue to hold his passport and so far he has had little luck pushing his claims.

He submitted a criminal complaint but the attorney general refused to investigate, giving no reason.

Zadeh then filed a complaint directly to Dubai’s emir, who holds what is called the Ruler’s Court. Residents can bring to the emir what they believe are injustices unaddressed by the courts – from disputes over money to wrongful deaths.

Zadeh says he has received no response.

see also: Terahn Times

More: Al Fajer Properties Dubai – Jumeirah Business Centre – Ebony Ivory Towers Dubai

Ajman Property Investors File Fraud Case

A group of 20 property investors from Canada, the UK and Pakistan turned up in Dubai yesterday demanding a meeting with the Ajman developer Casamia Star, which they claim has failed to update them on their investments.

The group said they had bought properties in Frankfurt Residence, a yet-to-be built tower in Ajman. Casamia’s general manager, Merzak Gaci, refused to meet the group as they had not made an appointment and they were “rude”. Mr Gaci called police. Two officers turned up but there were no arrests.

The group said they had bought properties in Frankfurt Residence, a yet-to-be built tower in Ajman. Casamia’s general manager, Merzak Gaci, refused to meet the group as they had not made an appointment and they were “rude”. Mr Gaci called police. Two officers turned up but there were no arrests.

The investors then went to the Bur Dubai police station to file a complaint against the company. “The police told us to come back at 7.30 in the morning to file a case for fraud,” Mr Ghulam said.

Afterwards, he said, the group would go to the Ajman Real Estate Regulatory Authority and Dubai’s Real Estate Regulatory Agency.

Casamia Star was established by the German architect and entrepreneur, Hendrik Hommel. Mr Hommel is currently in Germany and unavailable for comment.

“We thought it was a German company and we trusted the market,” said Farhad Norousi, a spokesman for the investors. “But in February the developer Casamia Star sold its brokerage branch, also called Casamia Star.

 And in June the brokerage told us they have cancelled their contract with the developer, whose director has disappeared and they are no longer responsible”

He said investors did not know what had become of the money they had already submitted.

Mr Gaci said the contract with the developer had been cancelled because of a lack of co-operation, which “means when somebody does not pay you, does not give you the status of your construction”.

He added:

“What will happen to the investors? We all want to know. The investors’ money is in the developer’s account.”

Source The National

Al Fajer Properties – The former CEO of Al Fajer Properties Shahram Abdulla Zadeh was jailed in 2008 – Today 2009 President of Al Fajer Maktoum Hasher bin Juma Al Maktoum – A part of the Dynasty Zarooni Scandal ?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123457503562586691.html

DUBAI — Amid the movers and shakers of this glittering city, Shahram Abdullah Zadeh cut a wide swathe. He cruised around town in a white Bentley and dined with royalty as his company developed one of the emirate’s premier office complexes.

But last February, a phone call from Dubai’s state security effectively ended it all.

Hauled in and locked up for 60 days, Mr. Zadeh says he was interrogated about his role in Dubai’s freewheeling real-estate sector and his business relationship with the brother-in-law of Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. When released, Mr. Zadeh says he had been frozen out of the real-estate company he had helped start.

Mr. Zadeh’s experience, compiled though court and company documents, offers a rare window into the murky business world that helped transform this city from an empty coastline into a metropolis. It also may offer a cautionary tale for investors lured to the city, which bills itself as the modern face of a new Middle East. Dubai is one of seven semi-autonomous emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates.

The U.S. government and human-rights groups have long criticized the judicial system in the U.A.E for a lack of independence and oversight. In the good times, investors didn’t fret much about these shortcomings. Now, some of the same deals that helped build Dubai are coming undone — in particular, a tradition of off-the-book business partnerships between Emirati citizens and elite expatriates like Mr. Zadeh, who was born in Iran.

Mr. Zadeh claims his detention came after a business dispute with his partner at Al Fajer Properties, Sheikh Hasher bin Juma’a Al Maktoum and his son, Sheikh Maktoum bin Hasher al Maktoum. Both men are members of the extended family of Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Mr. Zadeh alleges the two men took control of the firm while he was in custody, according to a lawsuit he filed with Dubai’s public prosecution office last year.

Mr. Zadeh has not been charged with a crime. But for the past year, authorities have held onto his passport, making it impossible for him to travel or find work.

“I used to believe in the miracle of Dubai. But now I see it all as a mirage,” said Mr. Zadeh, 37. Sheikh Hasher denies any wrongdoing. He says he was not responsible for Mr. Zadeh’s jailing and that he removed him from the company because Dubai authorities said he had offered bribes, an allegation Mr. Zadeh denies.

“I don’t need to defend my reputation. He does,” Sheikh Hasher said in a telephone interview. “This man is crazy. He is a crook with a sweet tongue.”

Some of Mr. Zadeh’s claims are impossible to verify independently. His only copy of the real-estate partnership agreement is missing, and official company documents show the Sheikh Hasher as sole owner. Dubai’s security services, the public prosecutors’ office and the Dubai ruler’s court all either declined to comment or didn’t respond to repeated requests for comment.

Last fall, the Emirates’ Human Rights Association, a government body, wrote to authorities asking for an explanation about why Mr. Zadeh’s passport was being held. The group did not receive any response, according to his lawyers.

Mr. Zadeh grew up in Dubai, attending school with the children of some of the city’s top families. He managed his family’s hotel and retail holdings and decided to go into business himself in 2000. Real-estate development was off limits to foreigners, even longtime residents like himself. So, he turned to a common practice — a silent partnership with a U.A.E. citizen.

Typically, such partnerships involve an Emirati acquiring a business license and then granting his foreign partner management control. The foreigner either pays an annual fee to the Emirati or the two share profits. The terms are set forth in a parallel set of documents, separate from those submitted to the government. Such contracts are so common that courts here have upheld them in disputes, according to commercial lawyers here.

In 2004, an old friend of Mr. Zadeh’s father brokered an introduction with Sheikh Hasher. The sheikh owns Al Fajer Enterprises, a conglomerate that includes a large construction and contracting arm.

In affidavits filed with Dubai’s prosecution office, Mr. Zadeh contends that he and Sheikh Hasher verbally agreed to a partnership, signing a contract on Feb. 1, 2006. The partnership, Mr. Zadeh says, established the two men as co-owners of Al Fajer Properties. The men would split profits equally and would invest equal amounts of capital. The contract named Mr. Zadeh as chief executive.

Mr. Zadeh provided $335,000 in start-up capital, and he invested another approximately $30 million in the company, according to bank documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Zadeh’s affidavits contend Sheikh Hasher didn’t contribute any capital. Sheikh Hasher denies the equity partnership ever existed.

Business took off quickly. One of Al Fajer’s biggest projects was a planned $750-million development of five office towers, set just inland from Dubai’s man-made, palm-tree-shaped island. Mr. Zadeh bought three of the five plots for the 40-story towers with his own money, according to financial documents. With investors lined up for units, he then awarded $215 million worth of contracts to the construction arm of Sheikh Hasher’s Al Fajer Enterprises, according to company documents.

But by late 2007, the contractors were behind schedule, according to company documents and former employees. Al Fajer Properties was facing fines for the delays, and buyers were starting to complain. Sheikh Hasher wanted payments to continue to his companies, but Mr. Zadeh claims he said no. The sheikh complained in a series of text messages that unless Mr. Zadeh released more cash, his contracting companies would go bankrupt.

On Feb. 21, 2008, Mr. Zadeh claims, he received an unusual phone call from State Security, asking him to come in that evening for a talk. When he arrived, , he claims that police blindfolded him, put him into a sport-utility vehicle and drove him to a detention center.

In the eight weeks he was jailed, Mr. Zadeh says he was never accused of a specific crime or shown an arrest warrant. Instead, he says, he was repeatedly interrogated about his personal life and Al Fajer’s operations, and gave his interrogators the combination to the company’s safe after they asked for it. “They told me that if I did not cooperate that they would ruin me,” Mr. Zadeh said.

Mr. Zadeh contends the only copy of his partnership agreement with Sheikh Hasher was in the safe. Former employees of Al Fajer say the company safe was emptied while Mr. Zadeh was jailed.

On March 6, Sheikh Hasher’s son, Sheikh Maktoum, was named the new chief executive of Al Fajer Properties. Sheikh Hasher hired international accountants to audit Al Fajer’s books, according to former employees. He then presented the findings to employees and select clients, accusing Mr. Zadeh of embezzling funds. Phone calls and emails sent to lawyers and accountants of Al Fajer Properties were not returned.

Sheikh Hasher says Mr. Zadeh stole money from him, but did not provide evidence, or the audit, to back his claim. Mr. Zadeh denies it.

Prosecutors refused to investigate the case, citing an order from Dubai’s attorney general, an official appointed by the ruler. In November, Mr. Zadeh tried one last option. He approached the ruler’s diwan, or court administration, and asked for mediation from Sheikh Mohammed himself.

So far, there has been no reply.

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Where Are The Locals?

Forbes     March 11, 2009

Seven suspects have reportedly been singled out by the authorities, but all of them are foreigners.

Dubai’s anti-corruption probe seemed in full swing Tuesday, after seven expatriate businessmen were reportedly accused by prosecutors of taking part in a $500.0 million fraud at Dubai Islamic Bank. The suspects included three Britons, two Pakistanis, one Turk and one American, according to the Associated Press, raising concerns that local Emiraatis might not be held as fully accountable as the expat brigade.

“Some might say that it’s evidence of the anti-corruption drive, but again, where are the Emiraatis?” wondered Christopher Davidson, a British academic who has authored several books on Dubai and the United Arab Emirates. “There have to be the local sponsors, the line managers, the people whose desk at which the buck stopped.”

The alleged fraud involved a company called CCH, which according to reports was linked to some of the named suspects and may have forged documents to fraudulently obtain funds from Dubai Islamic Bank. The bank issued a statement on Tuesday claiming its exposure to CCH was around $330.0 million and that it was chasing down assets “in a range of countries.”

The former chief executive of Dubai Islamic Bank, Saad Abdul Razak, was reportedly taken into custody last year for questioning, as part of the authorities’ probe of the real-estate sector, but his name does not seem to have made the final list. Press reports claim that a handful of local Emiraati executives have also been interrogated, including Sami al-Hashemi, ex-CEO of real-estate developer Mizin, and Abdul Salam al-Marri, head of the Lagoons development on Dubai Creek.

Although Dubai’s defenders cite the example of a former cabinet minister, named in press reports as Khalifa Mohammad Bakhit al-Falasi, who was sentenced to two years in jail in February for an unrelated case of fraud and embezzlement, the truth is that very few local Emiraatis have been charged or punished as a result of such investigations.

Expatriate businessmen have also accused the Dubai authorities of torture and detention without charge, including Zack Shahin, ex-CEO of Dubai Islamic Bank’s real-estate subsidiary Deyaar Properties, and Shahram Abdullah Zadeh, former manager of developer Al-Fajer Properties. (See “Desert Storm In Dubai.”)

Zack Shahin is still behind bars and still has not been charged, according to one of his American lawyers, James Pitts, who told Forbes that there were around 40 other foreign businessmen in a similar situation in Dubai.

When asked whether Shahin might have provided names to the authorities in exchange for a lighter potential sentence, or exemption from the charge sheet, Pitts replied: “I am certainly not aware of any such arrangement.” 

Read also: Desert Storm in Dubai

Read also : Madoff of The Mideast Denies Charges 

Dubai – Forbes – Al Fajer Properties Scandal – Battle over the Books – Behind the $870 million ”rescue” of a royal developer

original published Forbes

March 08. 2009 12:36AM UAE / March 8. 2009 8:36PM GMT

On Feb. 3, Al-Fajer Properties, a high-profile real estate development firm owned by the brother in law of Dubai’s ruling sheik, announced a 3.2 billion dirham ($871.2 million) restructuring of its operations. Under the leadership of its new president, Sheik Maktoum bin Hasher al-Maktoum–the eldest son of the company’s owner, and nephew of Dubai’s ruling sheik–the company explained it had liquidated its land bank and sold off its remaining inventory after a “rigorous” business review in order to strengthen its balance sheet.

But sources close to Al-Fajer tell Forbes that the restructuring was actually a wholesale “rescue” from financial ruin as an independent entity, after nearly three years of alleged mismanagement under former manager Shahram Abdullah Zadeh, a flamboyant, Iranian-born businessman who was fired last year and who claims to still be owed at least $1.9 billion by Al-Fajer.

Forbes has consulted documents–including bank statements, company contracts and employee interviews drafted by an auditing firm, which was called in to help conduct the business review last year–that purportedly tell the story of how Zadeh allegedly forged company contracts, kept fraudulent, unaudited accounts and moved money back and forth between Al-Fajer Properties and other companies owned by him.

Sources close to Al-Fajer say the new president, Maktoum, was called in by his father to fix the so-called “financial shambles” after an employee indirectly alerted the elder sheik to the company’s financial situation by requesting cash in early 2008. Documents show a cash balance of approximately $8.2 million when Maktoum arrived, which was restored to $163.4 million to $190 million 60 days later.

The sheik, say sources close to the company, did this by unwinding investments that would have saddled Al-Fajer with massive liabilities–in the “hundreds of millions” of dirhams–narrowly escaping the real estate slide that hit Dubai months later after the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers in September. Since then, property prices have fallen an estimated 20% to 25%.

Al-Fajer’s cash balance as of February 2009 was not made available to Forbes, but sources close to the company hint that nearly all of it has been plowed back into construction projects.

Zadeh flatly denies any wrongdoing and claims that the so-called “rescue” was a full-blown theft of a company he had owned and financed alone throughout the course of its existence. Moreover, he denies that the company was a financial mess and claims that his erstwhile partner, Maktoum, breached his trust to take control of a successful firm.

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“I was the sole investor, and Al-Fajer Properties was my company,” he says. “Sheik Hasher Maktoum has not invested a single dirham into the company; his only contribution has been the real estate license.”

The payment for this license, which cost $82,000, sat in a bank account from the company’s inception in 2004 and was not used as operational capital, Zadeh says.

Zadeh claims that Maktoum, his father and others together “cooked the books” and took control of Al-Fajer Properties while he was detained in jail by the authorities, without being charged, between February and April 2008. After being blindfolded, tortured and interrogated for weeks about unfounded bribery allegations and his operations at Al-Fajer in detail, Zadeh says he emerged from jail only to find a letter demanding he cease all involvement with the company.

Zadeh says he believes his detention was the result of a false report. Sources close to Al-Fajer say that any such claims did not come from them.

The battle has already spilled into the courts, a potentially embarrassing development for a company linked to Dubai’s ruling family. After filing two unsuccessful criminal complaints against Al-Fajer last year, Zadeh said his lawyers filed a civil lawsuit against the company on Feb. 26 at the Dubai Courts, claiming he was still owed $1.9 billion.

Although Al-Fajer Properties is said to have filed a criminal complaint against Zadeh in late February, alleging fraud and embezzlement of funds, the company’s lawyer would not confirm this. “I am aware of no suits against me,” Zadeh says.

Zadeh does not deny moving funds between Al-Fajer and other companies he owns, but claims that he put the money into the company’s account in the first place and later took it back as his “investment.” He said that no money was missing, though he admitted there had been no auditing of the company accounts because the firm was understaffed and had big ambitions.

Sources close to Al-Fajer also confirm that no money appeared to be missing; Zadeh is said to have made up the balance of withdrawn funds with later payments back into the firm.

The corporate tussle casts no direct shadow on the reputation of Dubai’s ruling family, even though Al-Fajer’s operators are one degree removed from Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum. But it’s another example of the dark side of Dubai, one more blow to its image as a spectacular hub for global investment. After recently being forced to borrow $10 billion from the United Arab Emirates’ central bank in Abu Dhabi to help its enterprises pay short-term debts (see “Dubai’s Jolt Back To Reality”), Dubai is bracing for more bad news as its gross domestic product growth plunges from 8% or so in 2008 to an expected 2.5% this year.

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The Case Dynasty Zarooni – Dubai Prosecutors Rejected Bail of Kabir Mulchandani

source WallStreetJournal 7starsdubai

Dubai prosecutors Sunday rejected a bail application from Dynasty Zarooni’s Chairman Kabir Mulchandani who is being held by police on 450 million U.A.E. dirhams ($123 million) fraud allegations, according to documents seen by Zawya Dow Jones.

Mulchandani, who couldn’t be contacted by Zawya Dow Jones, has previously denied any wrongdoing.

Ayman Merdas, a lawyer for Global Advocates & Legal Consultants representing Mulchandani declined to comment when called by Zawya Dow Jones Monday.

Mulchandani applied for bail on March 11 but was refused March 22, according to the Public Prosecution document seen by Zawya Dow Jones.

The Dubai public prosecutor handling the Dynasty Zarooni case couldn’t be reached Tuesday.

-By Stefania Bianchi, Dow Jones Newswires, +9714 364 4967 Stefania Bianchi@dowjones.com

more about this case from Archive 7StarsDubai

Al Fajer Properties Dubai Court Case : Anyone can sue anyone, whether they are from the ruling family or not,’ Tamimi said.

source REUTERS March 11, 2009

Dubai court began a hearing against three members of the emirate’s ruling family after businessman sought $1.9 billion in compensation for the alleged seizure of his firm.

The claimant, Shahram Abdullah Zadeh, a Dubai-based Iranian businessman and property owner, filed the civil suit, alleging that his business had been taken over by Sheikh Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoum, according to case documents obtained by Reuters.

The court handling the case against Al Fajer Real Estate and members of the Dubai ruling family began the trial but adjourned to April 8 after defendants did not attend.

‘We attended the session but the defendant did not attend and the session was adjourned to April 8,’ Salem Al Shaali, Zadeh’s lawyer from Al Shaali & Co, told Reuters by telephone.

Sheikh Hasher had sponsored Zadeh in line with the United Arab Emirates law which requires foreigners to have a UAE national as a partner or sponsor to carry out business activities, the documents showed.

Sheikh Hasher declined to comment by telephone or respond through email. His son and daughter could not be reached by telephone.

The suit is likely to draw wide attention as a test case for Dubai, home to many Western banks and a regional business hub.

Dubai has fashioned itself as a tourist destination and business-friendly centre for many international firms, and captured global attention by building palm-shaped islands in the sea and the world’s tallest building.

Last year, as Dubai’s booming real estate market reached dizzying heights, the emirate launched a high-profile anti-corruption campaign that saw the arrest of several well-known business figures.

But the prolonged detention of several Dubai property executives as part of the probe has been criticised by groups such as Amnesty International.

Zadeh accuses Al Fajer company, Sheikh Hasher, his son and his daughter, of involvement in the case, according to case documents. The case names the daughter, Sheikha Meryam, as a partner of the firm, and the son, Sheikh Maktoum, as a manager.

Zadeh alleged that Sheikh Hasher and Sheikha Meryam have ’seized all the company has from cash monies, movables, properties, and others’ in March last year, according to case documentation.

The seizure of the company occurred while Zadeh was held in custody of Dubai police, according to Zadeh.

‘I was arrested for 60 days on February 21, 2008 and until this day I don’t know what law I have broken, and I have not been charged with anything. I still don’t know why they have kept my passport for over one year,’ Zadeh told Reuters.

The chief of Dubai police, major general Dahi Khalfan Tamim, confirmed the arrest to Reuters by telephone and said that Zadeh was held on charges of bribery on order of the public prosecutor, charges that Zadeh denies. The public prosecutor could not be reached for comment.

Abdullah Zadeh’s lawyer, Salem Al Shaali, said he expected the case to be decided on its merits.

‘We haven’t yet seen anyone, whether from the ruling family or other, escaping the rule of law,’ he told Reuters.

Essam Al Tamimi, lawyer at Al Tamimi & Co. told Reuters by telephone that the judicial system in the UAE ‘is very independent from the government and the ruling family’.

‘Anyone can sue anyone, whether they are from the ruling family or not,’ Tamimi said.

Archive Al Fajer

Dubai – Arrest Warrant issued against Hilal Al Zarooni – The Case Dynasty Zarooni and Al Fajer Properties

Dubai: March 16, 2009, 23:54

source GulfNews

An arrest warrant has been issued against the senior executive of a well known real estate company, a senior public prosecutor told Gulf News on Monday.

Hilal Al Zarooni of Dynasty Zarooni Real Estate is “wanted and it’s a matter of time before the law enforcement officers bring him in for questioning,” the public prosecution official said. He didn’t say when exactly the warrant was processed.

Ayman Merdas, of Al Sharif Advocates and Legal Consultants, the law firm representing Hilal Al Zarooni and the company’s chairman, Kabir Mulchandani, said the investigation is ongoing but declined to comment whether Hilal Al Zarooni has been detained upon the arrest warrant or not.

Salem Al Sha’ali, the legal representative of a number of investors, said “My clients have lodged nearly 30 complaints worth around Dh300 million against the suspects& we have officially requested the public prosecution to arrest and question H.A.Z.”

“We also asked the public prosecution to question a number of developers to testify to the fact whether Kabri Mulchandani was authorised to sell their properties… .”

Earlier, both executives told Gulf News they were both “in the clear” and blamed the case of “nervous investors.”

Al Fajer Properties Case opened on Wednesday – lawsuit also targets Sheikh Hasher Maktoum`s daughter as a partner of the firm and the son, Sheikh Maktoum Hasher Maktoum Juma Maktoum

DUBAI, Mar 11, 2009 source Zawya

An Iranian businessman ( Shahram Abdulla Zadeh )  is suing members of Dubai’s ruling family for close to two billion dollars over real estate investments, in a case which opened on Wednesday.

Shahram Abdullah Zadeh, former CEO of Al-Fajer Properties
who was fired in 2008, has filed the lawsuit against the firm and its owner Sheikh Hasher Maktoum bin Jumaa al-Maktoum, a brother-in-law of the emirate’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum.

The lawsuit also targets Sheikh Hasher’s daughter as a partner of the firm and a son, Sheikh Maktoum, who has since been appointed president of Al-Fajer, according to legal documents obtained by AFP.

The case demands the “recovery of all material assets of Al-Fajer Properties
which gave no immediate reaction to the opening of the case.

Zadeh insists he was the real owner of the company and the only investor.

He had used Sheikh Hasher’s name to obtain the firm’s licence, as foreigners are not allowed to register real estate companies under their own name in the United Arab Emirates.

“I was the sole investor. Al-Fajer Properties
is my company. Sheikh Hasher’s only contribution has been the real estate licence as a sponsor,” he told AFP.

Zadeh is demanding seven billion dirhams (1.9 billion dollars), which “includes the plaintiff’s investments and the return on them,” his lawyer Salem al-Shaali said.

“We have enough documents to prove he was the sole investor,” he added.

Only a representative of the plaintiff’s lawyer was in the Dubai court of first instance for the hearing, which lasted a few minutes. The court’s list named Al-Fajer as the defendant, with no mention of the Maktoums.

The judge referred to them by numbers before the hearing was adjourned to April 8.

Zadeh has said he was detained by Dubai police without charge for 60 days last year, at the same time as he was dismissed, and that his passport was confiscated for a year, without an explanation.

The civil case comes as several executives from high-profile Dubai firms are held on suspicion of embezzlement and as the once booming regional business and tourism hub struggles to stave off the impact of the global economic slowdown.

ak/hc

Dubai property market beset by fraud claims

Malaysia Sun

Claims of scams, fraud, and embezzlement are hitting the real estate market in Dubai.

The multi-billion dollar construction craze which has attracted investors from all over the world, has seemingly brought in unsavoury types who have been preying on the never-ending appetites of locals and foreigners lining up to invest in the market.A UK company which claimed to have acquired a 900-apartment plot in the proposed Jumeriah Village project, has reportedly sold off apartments in the plot, with no prospect of them ever being built.
The company, Strategic Property Investment, and its associates, William Cowe and Mark Emlick, are being investigated by Dubai and UK authorities.

Dubai authorities are also investigating the mysterious Al Areifi Tower being constructed at Dubai Marina. As we reported several weeks ago, Khalid Saud Al-Areifi & Partner Co., of Riyadh Saudi Arabia, sold several hundred apartments in the project off-the-plan some years ago, taking full payment upfront.In recent weeks the owners of the apartments have been receiving telephone calls and faxes from Al Areifi representatives in Saudi Arabia advising them construction on the project had stopped and would not be resumed.

Investors say they have been offered their original cost, plus interest, back. We have sighted one of the letters sent which verifies the investors’ claims.When we visited the site two weeks ago we found construction in full swing. We contacted the builder on site who confirmed there had been no disruption to the construction and it was proceeding at ‘full steam.’Reports are now circulating that Al Areifi sold the site to the newly-formed, Abu Dhabi-based, Eskan Properties.

A report in Gulf News , however quotes a company spokesman as saying, ‘We sold the tower on again a week back.’
Having bought their apartments and paid for them in full, well before construction started, investors are now wondering how ‘their’ apartments could be on-sold, on two separate occasions since.

Several calls to Emaar Properties, the master developer of Dubai Marina, where the project is sited, have not been returned.

Meantime the investigation into the conduct of the former CEO of Dubai’s second largest property developer, Deyaar, has been widened.
According to Dubai’s Attorney General, Essam al-Humaidan, a second person, Ganesan Krishna Kumar, 49, has been arrested in connection with the investigation. Kumar, originally from India, was a co-founder, and is managing director, of the Dubai-based advertizing agency, Masterbrand (ME) Ltd.,Two other men have also been detained and questioned, but have since been released. Zack Shahin, Deyaar’s ex-CEO is being probed in relation to claims of possible embezzlement. Deyaar has more than 1,600 apartments, as well as retail, and office complexes, under construction in Dubai.

The glitz and glamour of Dubai’s red-hot property market must be feeling the heat of the latest troubles, coming on top of the debacle surrounding the Damac project on the Palm Jebel Ali.
Damac, which claims to be the largest private property developer in the Middle East, sold apartments off-the-plan in what it called the Palm Springs project, a luxury apartments and resort project on the Palm at Jebel Ali.

Four years after launching the project, Damac wrote to investors saying it had been abandoned as the master developer of the Palm had changed the plans and the project could not now fit the site.Within days the master developer, Nakheel, announced it was unaware of Damac’s claims, and that the changes which Damac referred to had been made ten months earlier, and Damac was happy with them.

A hastily convened meeting by the authorities, involving Damac and Nakheel, resolved the matter, with Damac agreeing to proceed with the project. That action averted a class-action lawsuit against Damac by at least sixty angry investors, most of whom were from the UK

Comments

Comments on this story

By adel, 04-26-08, 02:31 AM
An advice on Duabai real estate marketI want to give a little advice to prospective investors in Dubai. Ignore those fantastic property offerings, with incredibly low prices and very long-term and low-cost finance. Believe me guys, the price of cunstruction material and labour, rents, oil…etc have made such projects unviable. Such projects are not economically viable anymore and the little investor will, at the end, lose his or her investment. Watch out !

By Anonymous, 04-24-08, 10:03 PM

Dubai property market beset by fraud claimsI have an apartment in this project which I bought off the plan and paid for in full. As far as I am concerned I am the owner and here I read my apartment has been sold to somebody else, twice! What is going on here? And what about the mighty Emaar. They are overall responsible. Surely they can’t sell these plots off to fraudsters like this and not even answer the phone???? Investors like me just sit out here and get these scraps of information from the news media (thanks! I’m not having a go at you, without you I wouldn’t even know I was being pick-pocketed). Where are the authorities? They shouldn’t just be investigating Deyaar they should be investigating Al Areifi.

By Anonymous, 04-25-08, 05:07 PM

Dubai should act against scamsWhere there is a lot of money the smarties arrive to scam the punters. This al areifi crowd have really done a number on people. The Dubai government shouldn’t stand back and let them get away with it. Selling all the apartments to individuals and then selling the whole building to somebody else is just straight forward theft and fraud. The Saudi Arabian authorities should act as well because this is a Saudi company. What confidence can people have in these gulf markets when this sort of nonsense goes on?

By Anonymous, 04-25-08, 08:09 PM

Few bad apples doesn’t mean you throw out the whole caseYes there are scams and frauds in Dubai, just as there are everywhere. Mostly though I think investment in theis place is safe. The government needs to stamp out the bad guys because it affects how people perceive the market.

By Anonymous, 04-28-08, 01:50 PM

These thugs have to be stopped. Whilst these guys are living the lavish lifestyle, we are repaying our loans to pay for them to do so. I am still pursuing these people and find it a huge disappointment that UAE have no laws against this or protection for people who invest from abroad. It was particualrly enlightening that these guys are residing at one of the sheikhs hotels.. Does that mean he thinks all of this is ok?????

RERA Dubai – Four Dubai Developers under investigation

Four Dubai development companies are being subjected to an “internal audit of transactions”, Marwan bin Ghalita, the CEO of Real Estate Regulatory Agency (Rera) told a Dubai Property Group meeting on Sunday.

“We cannot let people promise and not deliver in Dubai,” he said.

“We want a transparent relationship between parties and have rules and regulations that will be strictly implemented.”

He declined to name the four Dubai developers under investigation.

Last month Damac Properties was involved in a controversy over an attempt to cancel its project Palm Springs on The Palm, Jebel Ali, which has since been reinstated.

Rera has a tough job regulating Dubai realty since its creation last July. Now 2,909 real estate agencies are registered and an estimated 4,000 more illegals in the marketplace have until the end of July to register or face fines.

“From November 1 only licenced agents can advertise property by law,” said Bin Ghalita. “We will not tolerate freelance agents.”

Rera has also licensed 710 development companies, 1,560 projects and 1,487 brokers since its formation, and opened 476 trust accounts worth more than $1.2 billion (Dh4.4bn) with 33 registered banks. “We also want to correct some misleading claims made by developers,” said Bin Ghalita.

“If developers say they sold out in half an hour, how is that possible? If this is advertised they must show data, and not keep us waiting for a month for it.”

In addition, Bin Ghalita said there must be no payment of percentage transfer fees to developers, who are only entitled to claim administration fees for handling such transactions. “Why should developers benefit like this?

It is not their business, we do the transfers.

“He said buyers and sellers should “refuse to pay extra transfer fees”. Bin Ghalita said the proper registration fee is a total of two per cent: one per cent for the buyer and one per cent for the seller.

“Nobody has the right to charge anything else, and please tell me if they do,” he added.