ABU DHABI // Investors who bought flats in an Abu Dhabi complex where development stalled said they were offered half the cash they were owed in exchange for dropping lawsuits against the developer.
Buyers who paid hundreds of thousands of dirhams have been trying to claw back their money since work on Tameer Towers on Reem Island halted in 2011. An estimated 70 buyers said Tameer Holdings, owned by the Al Rajhi Group of Saudi Arabia, owed them millions.
Several buyers have pursued the firm in Abu Dhabi Commercial Court for five years.
Some buyers, and a lawyer representing several parties, said the developer now offered a settlement that fell far short of what they are owed. Tameer would not comment on the offer but said it was tendering a new contract and intended to restart construction this year.
Mukdam Faisal paid Dh611,000 for a flat in Tameer Towers nine years ago and has been pursuing Al Rajhi’s group office in Saudi Arabia and its subsidiary Gemstone for his money back.
“They have refused to refund me my hard-earned money and are offering what is called the Tameer exit plan, a 50 per cent refund only subject to high management approval,” he said.
Mr Faisal said he would not settle for Dh300,000 and would continue fighting.
A second investor, who asked not to be named, said he had been offered 50 per cent of what he paid but with no time frame on payment. He rejected it.
A lawyer representing several owners, who also asked not to be identified while legal proceedings were ongoing, said his clients received the same offer.
“Tameer offered them a 50 per cent refund settlement but they refused,” he said. “Why would we accept 50 per cent of what we gave them?
“More than 70 people are fighting in the courts to get their money back from Tameer.
“Most of the cases have been running since 2011.”
Other buyers said they had not even had that offer.
Oleg Pushin won his court case against Tameer but said he has yet to see any of the Dh1 million he paid for a two-bedroom flat.
His court documents state that his money went through Tatweer, a subsidiary. It is responsible for paying him – but the court found that Tatweer’s accounts are empty.
“Because Tameer ran all the money transfers through a company which, according to the court papers, partially belongs to Tatweer, I am now not able to get my money back from Tameer,” said Mr Pushin.
Another buyer, Joseph Carroll, an American who lived in Abu Dhabi but has since left, said he had spent years trying to get back the Dh1 million he spent.
“I invested in two flats in Tameer Towers in 2007,” he said.
“I have given them approximately Dh1 million in cash.
“In the past 10 years there has been no communication.
“The towers have been stalled since 2011 and I have not received any compensation.”
Tameer would not confirm or comment on the potential settlements but said: “Tameer is committed to the delivery of units to its customers and it has arranged for the project to restart.
“A tender for the construction is under way and it expects to see the project active this year.”
anwar@thenational.ae
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
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6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
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Like a Fading Shadow
Antonio Muñoz Molina
Translated from the Spanish by Camilo A. Ramirez
Tuskar Rock Press (pp. 310)
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes
Day 1 results:
Open Men (bonus points in brackets)
New Zealand 125 (1) beat UAE 111 (3)
India 111 (4) beat Singapore 75 (0)
South Africa 66 (2) beat Sri Lanka 57 (2)
Australia 126 (4) beat Malaysia -16 (0)
Open Women
New Zealand 64 (2) beat South Africa 57 (2)
England 69 (3) beat UAE 63 (1)
Australia 124 (4) beat UAE 23 (0)
New Zealand 74 (2) beat England 55 (2)
Veil (Object Lessons)
Rafia Zakaria
Bloomsbury Academic
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
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Abu Dhabi GP schedule
Friday: First practice - 1pm; Second practice - 5pm
Saturday: Final practice - 2pm; Qualifying - 5pm
Sunday: Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (55 laps) - 5.10pm
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
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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MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Tottenham v Ajax, Tuesday, 11pm (UAE).
Second leg
Ajax v Tottenham, Wednesday, May 8, 11pm
Games on BeIN Sports
The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: seven-speed
Power: 720hp
Torque: 770Nm
Price: Dh1,100,000
On sale: now
THE SPECS
Engine: 4.0L twin-turbo V8
Gearbox: eight-speed automatic
Power: 571hp at 6,000rpm
Torque: 800Nm from 2,000-4,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 11.4L/100km
Price, base: from Dh571,000
On sale: this week
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
How to register as a donor
1) Organ donors can register on the Hayat app, run by the Ministry of Health and Prevention
2) There are about 11,000 patients in the country in need of organ transplants
3) People must be over 21. Emiratis and residents can register.
4) The campaign uses the hashtag #donate_hope
Know your cyber adversaries
Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.
Distributed denial-of-service: Floods systems, servers or networks with information, effectively blocking them.
Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts two-way communication to obtain information, spy on participants or alter the outcome.
Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.
Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.
Spyware: Collects information without the user's knowledge, which is then passed on to bad actors.
Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.
Viruses: Infect applications in a system and replicate themselves as they go, just like their biological counterparts.
Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.
Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.
