Al Boom owner arrested, offices shut

Emirati businessman Abid Al Boom, owner of Abid Al Boom Management and Development Properties, has been arrested over claims he defrauded investors and depositors, according to local media reports.

Another eight company officials have also been arrested by UAE authorities.

Al Boom could not be reached for comment but told local media: "I didn't commit any crime or violate the laws."

Dubai attorney general Essam Elisa Humaidan ordered the arrests and the closure of the offices of Al Boom Holding and Abid Al Boom Management and Development Properties. He also ordered that trading in shares owned by Al Boom be suspended. All assets have been frozen, including property and bank accounts, in an effort to secure investors' rights, according to The National newspaper.

Humaidan urged Al Boom investors to register their names at Muraggabat Police Station to determine how much money was invested with the company.

Authorities had fielded complaints from depositors who alleged they had been defrauded.

A Dubai-based Arabic-language newspaper reported that a committee investigated Al Boom and found that it had collaborated with a number of foreign businessmen to defraud investors with a phony portfolio. Al Boom Holdings' website claims it is involved in real estate development and sales, and licensed in Dubai and Sharjah with one project to its credit.

That project is a mixed-use leisure and residential development in Djibouti, in East Africa. The website said the project comprises "world class five-star hotel resorts, 210 luxury residential villas located around a large lagoon feature and circular marina ringed by leisure facilities, residential apartment buildings, offices and a comprehensive retail mall."

The company also had expansion to purchase a commodity trading company in Singapore.

Al Boom also had planned to go public in January 2010, and was completing a joint venture with an oil rig management company to purchase three oil rigs that would generate annual revenue of an estimated of US$150 million (Dh551m).

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READERS' COMMENTS

Al Boom's arrest
Posted by Essa Shamsi, Dubai, Egypt on Sunday 13 July 2008 at 13:00 UAE time

My family & I have known the Abid Al Boom and was emotionally affected by his arrest. May the authorities find who is the perfect guy responsible for all of this and leave this philantropist in peace. Abid Al Boom is most commonly known as a great help for people. We pray that he will pass this tribulation and fair judgement will be incurred.

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