The government of Dubai has accused Pakistan’s ARY Group of dishonesty and shameless greed over the breach of a settlement it signed two decades ago to construct a gold refinery in Dubai.
The Executive Director of Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), Ahmed Bin Sulayem took to his Facebook account and said that 21 years ago, ARY made a commitment which remains unfulfilled. He wrote: “Unfortunately it seems that shameless greed continues to blind you. If this is how you treat stakeholders in your global businesses.”
The UAE authorities seem upset as more than two decades ago, the ARY Group signed a contract to build a state-of-the-art gold and jewellery refining and production complex — ARY Aurum Plus — which is still nowhere near completion. It is not clear if the land was given at concession rates for the specific purpose and promise and what were the terms of the agreement, The News International reported.
“I am looking to include this sad case to the Harvard Business Review study so this embarrassment does not repeat among master developers. While the incompetent ARY sits on its incomplete construction site for over 20 years with a scheme of flipping it as opposed to contributing towards the significant development as they promised back in April 2002 for the goodwill of our community like most of our members, @DMCCAuthority has witnessed & delivered the following accomplishments during the same period as ARY’s shameful, embarrassing, deteriorating, health hazard shell of an incomplete refinery continues to rot. It’s important to note that each of the above took between 8 months — 36 months to complete from start to finish and have contributed a net positive outcome for not just the DMCC community, but for good of Dubai and the #UAE,” the Dubai government official added.
It further added that ARY has been the ugliest addition to their community and also showed no respect for what the DMCC community has achieved, what it stands for, or for the vision of our national leadership.”
According to The News International citing a local UAE newspaper, around two decades ago, a 25 million dollar financing arrangement was also made for planned development in Dubai.
At the time, ARY announced it as a “major step to further promote the vision of General Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Defence Minister, to establish Dubai as a leading centre for international business, ARY Group has embarked upon the creation of a state-of-the-art-gold and jewellery refining and production complex located in the Dubai Metals and Commodities Centre.” Sources in ARY claim they have legal rights to the land and would resolve the issue with the authority concerned.
Recently, Pakistan’s information minister Marriyum Aurangzeb accused the group of illegal deals with the state broadcaster using the previous PTI government’s influence and causing huge losses to Pakistan state television.
Government officials also claim that billions of rupees of land were also given to ARY without a bidding process or transparency in return for political favours in media coverage, reported The News International.
Maryam Nawaz, Pakistan Muslim League-N vice present, accused ARY of traitor-themed campaigns on politicians on behalf of the PTI.
ARY claims its innocence and says everything was done as per the rule of law and its news coverage is completely unbiased and fair to everyone.
The ARY group has a history of losing serious defamation cases in the UK where it doesn’t operate under its original brand name ARY anymore.
ARY News content in the United Kingdom has regularly been found to breach UK libel laws and media rules. (ANI)
