State committee ordered to liquidate al Boom assets

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, issues decree.

A committee will liquidate assets owned by the Emirati businessman Abid al Boom, according to a decree issued yesterday by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. Mr al Boom, who owned Abid al Boom Management and Development Properties and Al Boom Holdings, is accused of defrauding up to 3,500 depositors of Dh847 million (US$230m) in a bogus investment portfolio.
The state news agency, WAM, reported that Sheikh Mohammed, in his capacity as Ruler of Dubai, had "issued a decree to form a judicial committee to take charge of ... al Boom's assets." The committee will immediately start work on determining the value of Mr al Boom's assets, as well as "the amounts paid by depositors to al Boom and the amounts received", WAM reported. It will then provide a final list of creditors and the claimed amounts for distribution.
The committee's decisions will be enforced by the Dubai courts. Last year, Yousef Foulaz, the chief prosecutor for the Deira First District, said assets seized from Mr al Boom by prosecutors accounted for only 15 per cent of the money owed to his creditors.
[e-mail]