The long suffering shareholders and creditors of Damas are now able to see the full extent of the damage that has been done by the Abdullah Brothers. The annual report puts a brave face on things. With justifiable pride they point out that the company earned 9.8 million AED not including extraordinary items. This grain of good news needs to be taken with a pinch of salt, or rather a pillar of salt because those extraordinary items weigh in at 1.9 billion AED. So if Damas can keep up the good work, they’ll have repaired the damage from these one off write downs in 200 years. Unfortunately for the creditors, and fatally for the shareholders, Damas’ auditor said the company has to come up with a restructuring plan by the end of the month or it may close its’ doors.
I have to admit that in continuing to write about The Great Damas Heist I feel a little bit like George Orwell in “Shooting an Elephant.” I’ve written so much about it that people seem to expect me to continue even though the story has its’ edge because it is obvious how it ends. Alas, my inbox is full of requests, and some of you are new to my writing through its recent syndication. So I’ll point out a few things and tell you how it’s going to end.
The first thing you have to do is get around the Dubai Newspeak that is used to describe what has gone on with regard to the “unauthorized transactions.” They are universally described in the Damas documents and in the press as monies “borrowed” or “owed” by the Abdullah Brothers. The documents in the DFSA undertaking demonstrate that the at the time of the transfers the Abdullah brothers were not obligated to pay the monies back nor were they charged interest. From my perspective an unauthorized interest free loan for an indefinite period is called “theft.” This makes it easy to interpret their actions through the simple expedient of lip reading. If their lips are moving, they’re lying. If their lips are not moving, they’re stealing
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