A group of British property investors is seeking legal action against Casa Dubai, a UK broker that went into liquidation in January, to recover more than Dh2 million (US$545,000) invested in the UAE's property market.
About 50 investors who bought across a range of off-plan projects in the Emirates allege Casa Dubai took payments from them between September and December, but never passed them on to the developers.
Casa Dubai has said it was forced into liquidation because of non-payment by developers.
"It's currently going through the liquidator, which is trying to prove whether anything untoward went on," said one buyer, who bought a property through Casa Dubai in Ivory Tower, a project by Sokook Investment Group.
Ijaz Malik, another investor, said he lost Dh241,000 through Casa Dubai in a buy-back investment scheme by Al Barakah, an Ajman developer under investigation for alleged fraud.
Franco Bucci, the managing director of Casa Dubai, was unavailable for comment yesterday.
Shortly after the company closed in January, Mr Bucci blamed the global economic crisis, the decline in Dubai property prices and the failure of developers to pay commission on time. He denied any wrongdoing.
"The official receiver will look into my conduct over the last two years and report on it," Mr Bucci said at the time.
"If I have acted improperly I will face the consequences. I have not misappropriated funds and I have not personally benefited from this situation."
Mr Bucci added that the company had "considerable value" before the slowdown, claiming it generated Dh126m between January and August last year, before sales dried up.
While the commission made during this time should have been enough to sustain the firm, he said the company "was not in normal circumstances".
"Developers do not pay commissions immediately [after] the sale is made," Mr Bucci said. "Most pay over 12 months and some even more. As the crisis deepened, more and more developers failed to pay commissions earned."
He added that the company was further hit by Al Barakah, which claimed insolvency in December.
Shariq Imran Khan, the Al Barakah chief executive, is being sought by Dubai Police for allegedly failing to honour cheques of more than Dh40m. The cheques were written last year in the name of investors to back up Mr Khan's promises of a 50 per cent return on property downpayments within six months.
"When the news of this was made public, I realised that the arrangements made by Casa Dubai with investors on the back of the Al Barakah scheme might not be honoured," said Mr Bucci.
In response to claims that instalments were not paid to developers, he said: "Some developers have refused to acknowledge that they have received funds from Casa Dubai as a result of the announcement of the closure.
"I have tried to ensure all monies received have been allocated to every client account by developers, but cannot guarantee that this has been the case for all clients."
Casa Dubai sold property on a number of other projects including buildings within Dubai Sports City, Metropolis Lofts, a project by UK Capital Investments, and Ivory Tower.
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
About Proto21
Date started: May 2018
Founder: Pir Arkam
Based: Dubai
Sector: Additive manufacturing (aka, 3D printing)
Staff: 18
Funding: Invested, supported and partnered by Joseph Group
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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'Nightmare Alley'
Director:Guillermo del Toro
Stars:Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara
Rating: 3/5
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Specs
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
The biog
Age: 35
Inspiration: Wife and kids
Favourite book: Changes all the time but my new favourite is Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Best Travel Destination: Bora Bora , French Polynesia
Favourite run: Jabel Hafeet, I also enjoy running the 30km loop in Al Wathba cycling track
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5