-
USPS: Radical Surgery Needed
May 17, 2013 | 20 comments
-
No Fisker for Your Garage
April 22, 2013 | 50 comments
-
A Breakthrough in Ukraine?
April 17, 2013 | 7 comments
-
Thatcher Passes
April 8, 2013 | 8 comments
-
Moving Ukraine’s Democracy Forward
March 13, 2013 | 8 comments
At Large
Dubai’s Tarnished Glitter
As its finances became shakier, so does the rule of law. Take the case of Zack Shahin.
DUBAI — Ultra-modern skyscrapers in fanciful shapes, luxurious hotels and condominiums, artificial islands and boating lagoons. It was the liberal Muslim city-state of the future, the world’s new frontier of opportunity for enterprising investors and business executives.
That sunny perception of a member of the United Arab Emirates began to give way to a darker reality by 2009. Dubai World, a government-owned conglomerate, turned out to be greatly over-extended and nearly collapsed (Abu Dhabi came to the rescue with a large loan).
Even earlier, a Human Rights Watch report described abuse and poor housing conditions of “guest” workers, mostly from Asia, who make up close to 90 percent of Dubai’s population. (In its 2008 summary, Human Rights Watch said, “Authorities censor and harass human rights activists, impeding independent reporting that could help curb abuses.”)
As criticism grew and Dubai’s financial situation worsened, there came a series of accusations and arrests of businessmen of non-Dubai nationality, accusing them of fraud, embezzlement, and other crimes. As word of their treatment trickled out, it became clear that modern Dubai’s criminal justice system was anything but just.
In September 2009, the Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) seized the assets of a real estate developer Plantation Holdings. Charles Ridley, a Briton, and three partners (two British, one Turkish) were accused of wrongfully obtaining a $501 million loan from the bank. Ridley was arrested. The four now have sued in Bahrain for funds held in its central bank belonging to the DIB. Their complaint contends that Dubai authorities were protecting senior local officials.
Herve Joubert, a retired French intelligence officer, moved to Dubai to build leisure submarines for wealthy customers. His new workshop was financed by Dubai World. He’d heard rumors about the abuse of foreign workers, but dismissed them. “I saw glamour, marble columns, mirrors and money,” he said.
His good fortune changed abruptly. In June 2009, he fled Dubai in a rubber dinghy, just before a court convicted him in absentia of embezzling $3.8 million from Dubai World. He’d heard that people were often jailed for long periods without charges being filed. He said the accusations against him were all bogus, that it was a case of “a palace struggle over money.”
Then there is the case of American Zack Shahin. He had gone to Dubai from Ohio as a young man after hearing about the opportunities there. He became a Pepsi-Cola executive, then a banker. In 2002, he co-founded Deyaar Development, which ultimately became Dubai’s second-largest developer. Shahin was its CEO.
His career ran into a brick wall one day in March 2008. Police forcibly removed him from his home, with his wife and two children watching. They had no arrest warrant or search warrant to ransack his records. They held him incommunicado for two weeks. There was no contact allowed with his family or attorney, though Dubai law calls for this. He says he was tortured, interrogated for hours at a time, and forced to sign documents without being given an opportunity to read them. He was told that if he did not, his wife would be arrested.
Under Dubai law, prosecutors can hold a prisoner for 21 days without filing charges. The courts may then grant an indefinite number of 30-day extensions without requiring prosecutors to file charges. The usual reason is that an investigation is ongoing. The prisoner is entitled to an attorney only after the police say they have completed their investigation.
Thirteen months later, Zack Shahin was charged with having embezzled $100,000 from Deyaar, although its chairman and board of directors had approved the transaction as an incentive bonus. In addition, the firm’s Certified Public Accountants, Ernst & Young, also reported it as a bonus. The auditor said that the irregularities alleged by the prosecutor did not have sufficient relevant documentation. What they did have was the statements extracted from Shahin which had been manipulated and supplemented with fabricated ones.
In all, four investigations of Shahin were launched. One was dropped, one is pending; two have resulted in charges conjured up by authorities. In April 2009 the U.S. State Department declared, “What should appall all Americans and any person concerned with human rights…is Dubai’s decision to extend Shahin’s detention despite a plea from the U.S. Government urging Dubai to complete their investigation of Shahin in an ‘expeditious and transparent manner.’”
Shahin’s immediate goal is to be granted bail, pending trial. After more than two years in jail under very bad conditions, that is not unreasonable; however, two official U.S. Government diplomatic notes and letters from his Senators and Representative have been ignored.
Dubai bills itself as an international finance center; however, its own finances are very shaky and the seizure of expatriate businessmen on flimsy charges suggests an effort to blame others for its own malfeasance. When foreign businessmen — including Americans — have been accused or seized, Dubai’s criminal “justice” system took over — with an obvious thumb on the scales.
About the Author
Peter Hannaford was closely associated for a number of years with the late President Reagan, beginning in the California Governor’s office. His latest book is Presidential Retreats.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (35) | Leave a comment
More Articles by Peter Hannaford
More Articles From At Large
http://spectator.org/archives/2010/06/10/dubais-tarnished-glitter
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
H/T to National Review Online
ADVERTISEMENT
Richard Baker| 6.10.10 @ 7:56AM
What was it that the actor playing General Murray in the movie "Lawrence of Arabia" says about the Bedouin Arabs? Something about them being a "nation of sheep stealers." Dubai seems to fit the bill nicely, don't they?.
KyMouse| 6.10.10 @ 9:51AM
Mr. Baker, wasn't there also a scene in which Arabs try to steal the faucets from a bathroom, in order to bring water back to their homes? If if isn't in the movie, it's in Lawrence's book, I think. I wonder why they didn't just offer to buy the faucets -- or better yet, learn about the technology that makes indoor plumbing possible.
Alert1201| 6.10.10 @ 7:58AM
Like our founding father's understood. You cannot build a prosperous nation without the rule of law and you cannot have the rule of law without the protection of property rights (that includes wealth as well as actual property).
Ken (Old Texican)| 6.10.10 @ 8:39AM
Having negotiated then carrying out a LOT of projects in the middle east, I want to introduce youall to the TCN worker.
(Third Country National)
We utilized a LOT of TCN personel. As a group, as fine a group of men as you will ever meet.
The way one hires them is through a "labor contractor" in their home countries.
The labor contractors make a fortune on the backs of these men, and the men, (and their families), get virtually...barely a rice-bowl.
With our TCNs we changed all of that. First we negotiated fiercely with the "contractors"...
Then we set up separate cash payments to each man and secret bank accounts in their home countries for them.
We also treated them just like our American personnel...with dignity, and respect and great food they themselves decided upon. Also identical medical care to ours.
Boy, did we have happy campers, and productive help!
They busted their hineys for us...and at the end of their work day...they would play their favorite games until dark.. .soccer...heh...cricket...softball...and even basketball.
On a one year "hitch", every one of them could go home with the "working capital" and the know-how to start-up their own companies. We got letters of thanks for YEARS.
.....AND NEVER ONE STOLEN DIME FROM US.
heh, just call us "foolish Americans".
Harry the Horrible| 6.10.10 @ 9:38AM
A few more like you and we could put an end to the "Third World" as such...
confused| 6.10.10 @ 11:10AM
I think you are a very kin, smart and ethical gentleman. Most TCN's are Pakistanis and I would like to know how these people are such supporters of terror when they know that their own fellow muslims treat them like dogs and discriminate against them because of their colour.
Ned| 6.10.10 @ 11:18AM
My favorite memory of similar duty w/ American Bell in Riyadh was observing a traffic accident ahead, wherein a local 'missed a turn' and rear-ended a BUILDING! My driver freaked and got me out of there quickly to avoid any attempt to blame me (sitting in the back seat, three cars back). By the time we negotiated side streets, got around the accident, and came out on the other side of the incident, two other locals had rear-ended the guy that hit the building!!! Much intense screaming was underway.
Of course, my driver was TCN, and NOT a local.
Mike| 6.10.10 @ 4:31PM
I lived and worked in the UAE for 2 years as a 'contractor;' the lowest form of life just up from a TCN. We were well paid, but living on the economy is expensive and your 'rights' are simple--you have none. I attended a briefing on security at the U.S. Embassy when I first arrived and we (non embassy personnel) were informed that we weren't under the Chief of Mission's 'protection.' In other words--to hell with us if we ever got into any trouble with the authorities. If you have an accident with a UAE National you will always be at fault regardless. There is no parking anywhere in the city to be had; yet they continue to put up buildings without even parking garages--duhh!!! The Arab mind is so full of hate and useless crap they memorized from the Koran that common sense has yet to take hold. They hate the west, yet every chance they get they are partying and spending money western style. They listen to our music, dress like our teenagers, drive foreign cars including U.S. made, watch our movies and TV shows--yet they are good Muslims. haha, yeah right. UAE--a nice place to visit but NOT to live or stay too long!! An Arab is what he always has been--a goat and sheep herder. Even Bin Laden hates these guys.
WAKE UP| 6.10.10 @ 6:30PM
Ken, that's a great letter. Thank you.
NavyBrat | 6.10.10 @ 9:04AM
Sounds like the folks running the government in Dubai have taken a page from the Obamanomics handbook. Persecute & drive out all producers that make your economy thrive, & then blame the same producers for making the government & the citizens broke. The only difference between Dubai & here is that we haven't started throwing our producers in jail...yet.
Nancy| 6.10.10 @ 4:14PM
EVERYTHING this administration does in the end kills jobs and hurts middle America. How long before more people wake up to the truth? Will it be too late?
loulou| 6.10.10 @ 10:45AM
Call me mean spirited but I am unable to work up any sympathy for these westerners who go to Arab countries to make their fortunes.
They knew they were dealing with what are basically barbarians with mega wealth.
The Jews lucked out on this one--Jews aren't allowed in Dubai.
Ken (Old Texican)| 6.10.10 @ 12:15PM
loulou,
(smile), no insult taken.
Oil has no nationality...oil just burns. (Bye the way, we saved our own oil...for the future....and burnt the stupid Arabs'....for peanuts).
They got their Rolls-Royces...then spent their money here....and among allies.
loulou| 6.10.10 @ 1:02PM
Ken (Old Texican): You're one of my favorites. I was referring to the unfortunates referred to in this sob story.
I'm glad you made some money off those Arabs.
Nancy| 6.10.10 @ 4:11PM
The media here hyped Dubai; I recall a 60 minutes show all about how fantastic an idea and place it was. No wonder some went to make their fortune. But that old expression about lying down with dogs come to mind. But how horrible for this guy's wife and children. I think that a honorable Arab is probably as rare as a honorable Democrat; they exist, but hard to find.
BritGirl| 6.14.10 @ 3:35AM
Actually, there are a lot of Jews working in Dubai... mostly Brits and Americans. Their religion is not on their passport, so how would anyone know? And when I worked in Dubai back in the late 90s up until 2005, my company used to get mail from Israel, from companies trying to sell their products there! In addition, many companies in Dubai are Jewish owned - Marks & Spencer for example. Dubai doesn't have an issue with Jews... but they do have an issue with Israelis. You are not allowed into Dubai if you have an Israeli visa on your passport, and you're certainly not allowed in if you have an Israeli passport. But, there are quite a few Jews (as I said mostly Brits or Americans) living and working in Dubai without any problems.
coal carrier| 6.10.10 @ 12:30PM
I guess in Dubai, they really know where and how kick some a$$.
Tim| 6.10.10 @ 2:10PM
It's built on sand, literally and figuratively.
canuckistani| 6.10.10 @ 2:30PM
An Emirate acquaintance has an interest in nearly 1000 companies registered there. He does nothing but send the "permit" money up the line to the elites. He has a great life, hasn't worked a day, and knows the money will come back as sure as Sunday in the next few years.
The key is to be a native Arab, everyone else are just cattle.
Halliburton needs a local CEO.....
WAKE UP| 6.10.10 @ 6:28PM
The "new" Dubai was ALWAYS an artificial construct built on greed and hubris, a Devil's bargain - and if you dance with the Devil, you get your arse burnt. But nobody listened back then.
DIBEK| 6.10.10 @ 10:05PM
Farking Sand Naggers!
James| 6.11.10 @ 12:33AM
If you think the business environment is bad in Dubai, consider what happens if you are gang-raped. The raped person gets charged with "adultry" (if a woman, for having "sex outside of marriage") or "homosexuality" (if a boy, for his "sexual crime" of being raped). This happens usually as a consequence of filing a police report. The rapists do not get charged, as a woman's word is worth only half that of a man, and an infidel woman is considered like a cockroach, totally beneath the Islamic Sharia Law system, which protects only Muslims. So if you go to any Muslim land to do business or party, but are not a Muslim yourself, then good luck to you! Otherwise you are like a Jew in Berlin of c.1937.
BritGirl| 6.14.10 @ 3:49AM
Has nothing to do with Islam.. a Muslim Arab (she was Syrian) friend of mine was raped by an Emirati national... same consequence as you mentioned above. If anything, it was worse for her BECAUSE she was Muslim. I also knew of a British girl who was raped out there (she was a friend of a friend). She was simply given money and deported back to the UK where she could at least get treated for the psychological and emotional damages and where she would receive the love and support of not only her family but her country and the national health services there. Since she was British and non-muslim, "these people don't know any better, send her back to her country". The Syrian Muslim however received 3-month jail sentence as it's even worse when you are a Muslim woman AND engaging in sexual activity outside of marriage - whether or not you wanted to - ('whore' I believe was the term used), no support from family (since she's no longer a virgin, who'll want her now?), and definitely no medical help for psychological or emotional damage caused. It is far, far worse when you are a muslim and convicted of a crime in an Islamic country than when you are non-muslim. Non-muslims, no matter how bad the punishment might seem to you, still have the advantage of "not knowing any better", but a muslim "should've known better", and their punishment is always double.
Tonestaple| 6.23.10 @ 11:45AM
This has everything to do with Islam. A woman's word being worth half a man is Mohammed's word. A rape victim having to provide four witnesses to the act is Mohammed's word, because Aisha was accused and this made Mo mad. And yes, a Muslim is worth more than an infidel, which is in the hadith: if you kill a Muslim, you have to pay x. If you kill an infidel, you have to pay 1/2 x. Every single bit of this is Islam.
andy_krow| 6.11.10 @ 2:10PM
What a bunch of racists here!!!
(Sorry, I couldn't find an emoticon that resembles a face that's dripping sarcasm...)
Amanda| 11.17.10 @ 9:38AM
I agree wholeheartedly! But isn't that the way? When frustrated or fearful, the ignorant always fall back on prejudice cutdowns. I've been reading a lot of posts and, having been a resident of UAE for nearly 15 years, I am well aware of the good, the bad, and the ugly. Every country has it - even America. I'm an American (Alabamian), and since I came back to get my teens settled in college, I have never felt LESS freedom! Homeland Security, TSA, and a paranoid, fearful public who is largely ignorant of politics and policies anywhere outside their own local area. I'm not saying I don't love my country - but isn't a true patriot someone who stands up and notices and tries to effect change? UAE has its own set of problems, but any Westerners making these critical comments need to be aware that appalling shit happens on their own country every day. Wake up and smell the McMuffin....
HOPE lane| 6.11.10 @ 9:34PM
This should be a lesson to all American build up our country, stay here look at sex in the city 2 movie, they had a bad experience for kissing on the beach and was arrested, it is not a free society, their glitter is all fake like walking on egg shells
Amanda| 11.17.10 @ 9:50AM
Hope, probably unlike you, I am embarrassed to say that I caved and watched that asinine movie (thanks Sex and The City, for proving that we Americans are imbeciles!)......I know how it goes in Abu Dhabi (which is much nicer than where this movie was actually filmed - Morrocco). Anytime people have been arrested for PDA's, they were being blatantly overt, and in every instance were warned repeatedly by onlookers, locals, and eventually the authorities, who, even then gave them multiple opportunities to discontinue their activity. In Dubai, I watched in shock as a European couple had SEX on a beach lounger outside of a busy hotel at night. Several people warned that they should stop, but alcohol and a lack of respect for the law is what finally got them. BTW: if you did that in Alabama you'd get arrested after the FIRST warning.... it's not just a Middle Eastern thing. Why should anyone anywhere be allowed to make love in public? That's a private thing! A brief kiss will NOT get you in trouble. That's BS! Holding hands will not get you in trouble. Passionate kissing and sex acts get you on trouble.
Rhurt| 6.13.10 @ 9:18PM
Why, when this type of arrogance is displayed,
can't we consficate/put a hold on Dubai's assets. Then maybe we can get some respect and get help to illegally detained US citzens.
fjdi| 7.1.10 @ 4:56AM
shanghai massage