Dodgy Dealings in Dubai!

Less than 2 weeks ago we wrote about the situations one is faced with when buying in Dubai, the various main developers there, and the suspicions of their competence and thought into their projects and abilities as construction companies in their own right.

Now we see the headlines of "Nakheel exec in bribery scandal name" on Arabianbusiness.com published by Reuters. Basically, whilst no-one is really prepared to comment other than that "No money has been embezzled from within Nakheel" It goes to show that it is obviously high profile for it to be kept this quiet, investigations like this don't just suddenly "pop up" from no where!

In an additional quote it was stated "The allegation of financial irregularities is in relation to the acceptance of sums paid to an employee by third parties." Now what does that tell you? Well, it does clarify somewhat that no embezzlement has gone on, sure, but how about telling us what has not happened and actually getting on with what everyone wants to know which is what HAS happened!

Personal opinion here would be inclined to conclude that someone has been greasing some palms somewhere to get where they are in the business and make things run more smoothly for them, i.e. someone in Nakheel taking backhanders for something, and Nakheel may or may not have known about it.

The key thing to remember here is that Nakheel belong with the other developers we wrote about before in "Tax Free Sand Castles in the Sun" they weren't added to the article at the time because this news was inevitable sooner or later.

If you have bought or are buying in Dubai, ask yourself a few questions.

Can you remember the numerous cases, some as recently this year about developers and officials in Spain taking backhanders, and the subsequent problems it has caused owners later down the line, sometimes 10 or 15 years on?

Can you trust a company that allows this to go on? How many more "irregularities" are there, and on what scale?

Rumour mongery this might be to a degree, but if you think for an instance that all is good, and you are still rushing off to buy in Dubai, We'll happily go on the record now and say "I told you so" when you are looking for a lawyer, sat in the desert, drinking warm Guinness in your timeshare tent because your building has no licence.