Tawhid Abdulla, CEO of Dubai-based jewelry retailer Damas, has resigned after admitting to “unauthorized transactions” of up to $165 million,
the
Financial Times
reported.
Dumas, which is the Gulf’s largest jewelry retailer, was founded and is more than 50% owned by Abdulla and his brothers, Tawfique and Tamjid. Tawfique Abdulla will continue in the chairman’s post and has also assumed the duties of managing director, according to the
FT
report.
Damas has origins that date back to 1907 and more than 500 stores worldwide, the
FT
article said. In July 2008, it raised $270 million in an initial public offering on the Dubai International Financial Exchange, the predecessor of Nasdaq Dubai, “in one of the biggest privatizations of a family-owned business in the Gulf,” the report noted.
The
Wall Street Journal
reported
that Damas has requested that Nasdaq Dubai suspend trading in its shares.
The Abdallah brothers have pledged “to commit the necessary assets to secure and repay in full any unauthorized transactions,” the company said in a statement. (Sources
Financial Times,
Oct. 13, 2009;
Wall Street Journal,
Oct. 13, 2009.)
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