Prestwich_Blue
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This being reported in the Emirates paper The National: Link
Sulaiman al Fahim wanted over debt of Dh8m
Awad Mustafa
Last Updated: February 17. 2010 12:59AM UAE / February 16. 2010 8:59PM GMT DUBAI // A court has issued an arrest warrant for Sulaiman al Fahim, the former public face of Hydra Properties and host of the business-themed reality television show Hydra Executives, for failing to pay a debt of more than Dh8 million. The warrant was issued last Thursday after a ruling against Mr al Fahim by the Dubai Property Court in January last year in connection with a property dispute.
An investor from Azerbaijan demanded to be repaid after a development by Mr al Fahim’s company, Al Buraq Development and Investment, failed to go ahead in Dubai, court documents show. An arrest warrant has also been issued against Saqr Abdullah Mohammed, the owner of another Dubai company involved in the deal, Ghantoot Star General Trading.
The Dubai Property Court ordered Mr al Fahim, who is also the former owner of the English Premier League football club Portsmouth, to repay the Azerbaijani investor, identified as AM, a total of Dh8,634,836 (US$2.3m) – the original Dh8m he invested plus court and legal fees. In its judgment, the court said a nine per cent daily penalty would be imposed from the date of the first court hearing until the date the sum was repaid. By that rule, it would mean that, up until today, Dh374,579,070 was owed.
Mr al Fahim, who is believed to be in Britain, faces only a local arrest warrant, not an international one. Sources close to the investigation said an Interpol red notice had not been filed. It would be the likely next step for the UAE authorities should they want Mr al Fahim extradited. Mr al Fahim would be arrested if he were to re-enter the UAE or any UAE embassy or government building. A spokesman for Mr al Fahim was unable to comment on the case.
The court documents said Mr al Fahim had cleared almost all his assets from this country. Inquiries sent by the court to local banks found that Mr al Fahim had transferred all his local funds to undisclosed overseas locations. The Dubai Land Department said he personally owned only one plot of land in the emirate, in Mirdiff, and sold it after the court judgment was issued against him on January 14 last year.
It was also disclosed that Mr al Fahim owned assets worth only Dh3,000 in stocks in the UAE.
The court said in its judgment sheet that the amount demanded was large in comparison to the amount requested by the plaintiff, but was small in comparison with the assets Mr al Fahim is believed to hold.