Mahdi Al Tajir
Encyclopedia
Mahdi Al Tajir is an Emirati
businessman based in the United Kingdom
. Al Tajir spends much of his time at his London home or at Keir House
, his 18000 acres (72.8 km²) Perthshire estate. He has interests in finance and property, and owns the Highland Spring
bottled water company.
Al Tajir was named Scotland's richest man with a wealth of £1.5 billion in the Sunday Times Rich List 2010
.
in 2009.
Al Tajir's 15,000 acre Blackwood estate in Perthshire
, Scotland is owned by his company Park Tower Holding Establishment, based in the tax haven
of Liechtenstein
. Al Tajir also owns London's Sheraton Park Tower Hotel
at 101 Knightsbridge near Hyde Park
.
In the 1980s he attempted to broker a peace deal in the Lebanese Civil War with his business partner Hani Salaam.
Al Tajir has an extensive collection of silver artifacts and carpets. In 1993 Al Tajir paid the record price for a piece of silver at auction, when he bought a 1736 silver chandelier made by Balthasar Friedrich Behrens for £2.27 million at Christie's
in Monaco. Al Tajir formed a joint venture with Bonhams
fine art auction house to open an office in Dubai.
Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum
, he became one of Sheikh Rashid's most trusted advisors and was made the first Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the United Kingdom when the UAE was founded in 1971. Under a thinly disguised name, Al Tajir's exploits as a negotiator were recorded in the 1976 novel Dubai by Robin Moore
. In 1963 Al Tajir became director of Sheikh Rashid's Petroleum affairs and effectively the most powerful man in Dubai after Sheikh Rashid himself. Al Tajir lost or resigned his position in 1981 with the downfall of Sheikh Rashid's health and the waning of his personal power, with the ascedency of Shekih Rashid's sons. Al Tajir remained UAE ambassador to the United Kingdom until 1987. http://www.ucc.ie/law/restitution/archive/englcases/dubai.htm
In London in the late 1960s Egyptian businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed
was introduced to Al Tajir by Salim Abu Alwan, an Iraqi businessman. Al Tajir informed Al-Fayed that Dubai was penniless and needed to borrow £1 million for the future construction of modern harbour facilities. Al-Fayed secured a loan of £9 million from Imre Rochlitz, an American lawyer. Rochlitz's Jewish ancestry caused embarrassment to Al Tajir, and later caused Rochlitz to reject Al-Fayed's offer of a formal partnership. Al-Fayed earned £1.5 million commission from the contract for British engineering company Costain
to carry out the improvement works to the port. Al-Fayed also assisted with securing the financing for the Dubai World Trade Centre
. By the mid 1970s Costain had gained over £280 million of contracts thanks to Al-Fayed and Al Tajir. Al Tajir's influence in Dubai was waning by 1977, and Al-Fayed was excluded from the commission process for a new aluminium smelter, and the development of Jebel Ali
, putting Costain's future profits at risk. In 1993 Al-Fayed was visited at Harrods by Mohammed Alabbar
, the director of Dubai's Department of Economic Development. Alabbar had been appointed by Sheikh Maktoum to eradicate the system of large commission payments from previous decades. Al Tajir was challenged in the British courts to repay his alleged excessive profits earned from the construction of Dubai's aluminum smelter, and Al-Fayed was targeted over his management contract of the Dubai World Trade Centre
.
The construction of Dubai's aluminum smelter caused Al Tajir to fall out with Sheikh Rashid’s sons. In the judgement of a British court case, Al Tajir conspired to defraud Dubai Aluminium of millions of dollars in connivance with commodities trader Marc Rich
, who owned a neighbouring property in Switzerland.
Al Tajir owns a glass-bottling company in Dubai and a private bank in the tax haven
of the Cayman Islands
.
Emirati people
Emirati people or people of the United Arab Emirates are citizens and an ethnic group who share their culture, descent and the Arabic variety of the United Arab Emirates...
businessman based in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Al Tajir spends much of his time at his London home or at Keir House
Keir House
Keir House is a large country house near Stirling in central Scotland. It is located in the parish of Lecropt, north-west of Bridge of Allan, in the former county of Perthshire. The estate was home to the Stirling family from the 15th to the 20th century...
, his 18000 acres (72.8 km²) Perthshire estate. He has interests in finance and property, and owns the Highland Spring
Highland Spring
Highland Spring is the United Kingdom's leading supplier of bottled water. It produces still and sparkling water at its factory in Blackford, Perth and Kinross, Scotland, although despite the name this area is not actually within the Scottish Highlands...
bottled water company.
Al Tajir was named Scotland's richest man with a wealth of £1.5 billion in the Sunday Times Rich List 2010
Sunday Times Rich List 2010
The Sunday Times Rich List 2010 was published on 25 April 2010.Since 1989 the UK national Sunday newspaper The Sunday Times has published an annual magazine supplement to the newspaper called the Sunday Times Rich List...
.
Life
Born in Bahrain, Al Tajir was educated at Preston Grammar School in Lancashire. Al Tajir is married with five children. Al Tajirs son, Maher al-Tajir, was found guilty of assaulting his girlfriend at Keir HouseKeir House
Keir House is a large country house near Stirling in central Scotland. It is located in the parish of Lecropt, north-west of Bridge of Allan, in the former county of Perthshire. The estate was home to the Stirling family from the 15th to the 20th century...
in 2009.
Al Tajir's 15,000 acre Blackwood estate in Perthshire
Perthshire
Perthshire, officially the County of Perth , is a registration county in central Scotland. It extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south...
, Scotland is owned by his company Park Tower Holding Establishment, based in the tax haven
Tax haven
A tax haven is a state or a country or territory where certain taxes are levied at a low rate or not at all while offering due process, good governance and a low corruption rate....
of Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein is a doubly landlocked alpine country in Central Europe, bordered by Switzerland to the west and south and by Austria to the east. Its area is just over , and it has an estimated population of 35,000. Its capital is Vaduz. The biggest town is Schaan...
. Al Tajir also owns London's Sheraton Park Tower Hotel
Sheraton Park Tower Hotel
Sheraton Park Tower Hotel is a luxury 5-star hotel in London, England. It is situated at 101 Knightsbridge near Hyde Park , in the Belgravian district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...
at 101 Knightsbridge near Hyde Park
Hyde Park, London
Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, United Kingdom, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...
.
In the 1980s he attempted to broker a peace deal in the Lebanese Civil War with his business partner Hani Salaam.
Al Tajir has an extensive collection of silver artifacts and carpets. In 1993 Al Tajir paid the record price for a piece of silver at auction, when he bought a 1736 silver chandelier made by Balthasar Friedrich Behrens for £2.27 million at Christie's
Christie's
Christie's is an art business and a fine arts auction house.- History :The official company literature states that founder James Christie conducted the first sale in London, England, on 5 December 1766, and the earliest auction catalogue the company retains is from December 1766...
in Monaco. Al Tajir formed a joint venture with Bonhams
Bonhams
Bonhams is a privately owned British auction house founded in 1793. It is the third largest auctioneer after Sotheby's and Christie's, and conducts around 700 auctions per year. It has 700 employees....
fine art auction house to open an office in Dubai.
Business career
Appointed head of customs in Dubai by SheikhSheikh
Not to be confused with sikhSheikh — also spelled Sheik or Shaikh, or transliterated as Shaykh — is an honorific in the Arabic language that literally means "elder" and carries the meaning "leader and/or governor"...
Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum
Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum
HH The Emir Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum was the Vice-President and Prime Minister of United Arab Emirates and Emir of Dubai...
, he became one of Sheikh Rashid's most trusted advisors and was made the first Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the United Kingdom when the UAE was founded in 1971. Under a thinly disguised name, Al Tajir's exploits as a negotiator were recorded in the 1976 novel Dubai by Robin Moore
Robin Moore
Robert Lowell "Robin" Moore, Jr. was an American writer who is most known for his books The Green Berets, The French Connection: A True Account of Cops, Narcotics, and International Conspiracy and, with Xaviera Hollander and Yvonne Dunleavy, The Happy Hooker: My Own Story.Moore also co-authored...
. In 1963 Al Tajir became director of Sheikh Rashid's Petroleum affairs and effectively the most powerful man in Dubai after Sheikh Rashid himself. Al Tajir lost or resigned his position in 1981 with the downfall of Sheikh Rashid's health and the waning of his personal power, with the ascedency of Shekih Rashid's sons. Al Tajir remained UAE ambassador to the United Kingdom until 1987. http://www.ucc.ie/law/restitution/archive/englcases/dubai.htm
In London in the late 1960s Egyptian businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed
Mohamed Al-Fayed
Mohamed Abdel Moneim Al-Fayed is an Egyptian businessman and billionaire. Amongst his business interests are ownership of the English Premiership football team Fulham Football Club, Hôtel Ritz Paris and formerly Harrods Department Store, Knightsbridge...
was introduced to Al Tajir by Salim Abu Alwan, an Iraqi businessman. Al Tajir informed Al-Fayed that Dubai was penniless and needed to borrow £1 million for the future construction of modern harbour facilities. Al-Fayed secured a loan of £9 million from Imre Rochlitz, an American lawyer. Rochlitz's Jewish ancestry caused embarrassment to Al Tajir, and later caused Rochlitz to reject Al-Fayed's offer of a formal partnership. Al-Fayed earned £1.5 million commission from the contract for British engineering company Costain
Costain Group
Costain Group plc is a British construction and civil engineering company headquartered in Maidenhead. It was part of the original Channel Tunnel consortium and is involved in Private Finance Initiative projects.-History:...
to carry out the improvement works to the port. Al-Fayed also assisted with securing the financing for the Dubai World Trade Centre
Dubai World Trade Centre
The Dubai World Trade Centre is a business complex in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, built by H.H. Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum. It is located along Sheikh Zayed Road at the Trade Centre Roundabout...
. By the mid 1970s Costain had gained over £280 million of contracts thanks to Al-Fayed and Al Tajir. Al Tajir's influence in Dubai was waning by 1977, and Al-Fayed was excluded from the commission process for a new aluminium smelter, and the development of Jebel Ali
Jebel Ali
Jebel Ali is a port town, located 35 kilometres southwest of the city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates . The village has a thriving expatriate community with over 300 residents. The area is also home to "5,500 companies from 120 countries"....
, putting Costain's future profits at risk. In 1993 Al-Fayed was visited at Harrods by Mohammed Alabbar
Mohammed bin Ali Al Abbar
Mohammed Ali Rashid Al Abbar , is a prominent citizen of the United Arab Emirates, from the Emirate of Dubai. He is a senior aide to Dubai's Ruler and UAE's Vice President/Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Alabbar served as the Director-General of , and Chairman of Emaar, one...
, the director of Dubai's Department of Economic Development. Alabbar had been appointed by Sheikh Maktoum to eradicate the system of large commission payments from previous decades. Al Tajir was challenged in the British courts to repay his alleged excessive profits earned from the construction of Dubai's aluminum smelter, and Al-Fayed was targeted over his management contract of the Dubai World Trade Centre
Dubai World Trade Centre
The Dubai World Trade Centre is a business complex in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, built by H.H. Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum. It is located along Sheikh Zayed Road at the Trade Centre Roundabout...
.
The construction of Dubai's aluminum smelter caused Al Tajir to fall out with Sheikh Rashid’s sons. In the judgement of a British court case, Al Tajir conspired to defraud Dubai Aluminium of millions of dollars in connivance with commodities trader Marc Rich
Marc Rich
Marc Rich is an international commodities trader and entrepreneur. He is best known for founding the commodities company Glencore. He was indicted in the United States on federal charges of illegally making oil deals with Iran during the late 1970s-early 1980s Iran hostage crisis and tax evasion...
, who owned a neighbouring property in Switzerland.
Al Tajir owns a glass-bottling company in Dubai and a private bank in the tax haven
Tax haven
A tax haven is a state or a country or territory where certain taxes are levied at a low rate or not at all while offering due process, good governance and a low corruption rate....
of the Cayman Islands
Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands is a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union located in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman, located south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica...
.