Questions About a Desert Village

The Middle East property boom has produced more than its share of dream-spinners and deal makers, whose brash attitudes eventually dwarfed the villas and towers they promised to build.

Few, however, have made as much of a splash as Sheik Sulaiman al-Fahim, a television personality from Abu Dhabi whose flashy lifestyle and acquisitive strikes into Britain’s premier soccer league have overshadowed his work as a real estate developer.

Now, as he is about to complete his biggest deal ever — the purchase of the Portsmouth soccer team in Britain — Mr. Fahim finds himself at the center of a controversy over persistent delays involving one of his development projects, Hydra Village.