Mr Abdoola has known Mr. Uzair Razi for many years from the time he was a young boy. Uzair’s father, Mr Razi Ahmed, was the head of BCCI Bank in Botswana and “a very good man,” his close associates say.

Uzair and his wife went to settle in Dubai, the latter’s birthplace. He stayed in touch and was working for a real estate company owned by Mr. Sameer Lakhani. “Our understanding is that Uzair approached Mr. Abdoola to utilize their services for any property-related interests in Dubai. He did some work for Mr.Abdoola and others in the Botswana business community,” narrates a friend of Mr Abdoola.

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According to sources, Uzair contacted Mr.Abdoola to propose two really good prospects; one was a completed off ice block for Turnstar, and the other was a residential development opportunity. Palazzo Venezia was a newly completed office building. Uzair provided all due diligence documents to the CFO of Turnsta, including a 5-year pre-lease to a Logistics company, and it looked like a great investment based on the returns.

The development opportunity was land available to build a multi-story apartment building. Uzair’s company was looking for partners to invest in this project and showed that there is high interest from potential tenants with a yield of 9% return.

OKAVANGO, JVC – The Residential Development

Mr Uzair Razi and Mr. Lakhani presented proposed plans, costings, and projected yields of the building to Mr Abdoola.The project, as they presented it, appeared to be a good investment. Mr Abdoola was interested and also offered the opportunity to other investors in Botswana who had been looking for good investments.

Mr Abdoola then introduced the project, which he was also investing into other business associates in Botswana. They showed a lot of interest and were keen to be involved as they had also done business with Mr Abdoola before. Mr Uzair Razi and Sameer Lakhani advised Mr Abdoola that for foreigners to invest in Dubai at that time, the funds would have to be transferred into a “free zone authority”. They then set up a company called Bucephalus Holding Limited in the Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority (JAFZA) to facilitate. They advised that Mr Abdoola’s name would be on this company so that he could oversee and take care of his investors’ interests, and Mr Uzair’s name would also be on the company as he has the power of attorney to represent Mr Abdoola in Dubai and thereby protect Mr. Abdoola’s interests as well as that of his investors. Uzair Razi was never a partner, or investor in this project.

Bucephalus Holding was set up purely as an SPV, to receive funds from the investors and to own the land purchased for the project. Once the project was completed, Bucephalus Holdings would transfer each investor’s units to their names respectively, and then be closed. Neither Bucephalus Holding nor Mr Abdoola was the developers of this project. Mr Sameer Lakhani transferred all the funds out of Bucephalus Holding to his own company, Global Capital Partners FZ-LLC, who were the actual developers of this project.

The construction started well and was underway. When Mr Abdoola visited Dubai in September 2019 the building was almost completed and at the snagging stage. Within a few months, it was to be ready for occupation. Mr Abdoola was likely satisfied with the building up to that stage with what he had seen. Since the development risk was over, he saw great potential in the project and wanted Turnstar to also be a part of it in some way.

“Although we believe that Mr Abdoola had the authority to invest on behalf of Turnstar without board approval, he took it to the board and explained the project in detail including information on all the other investors. The board looked at the project and decided to invest based on Mr Abdoola’s recommendation. The board did not carry out their own due diligence on this projec t,” said an insider at Turnstar. Turnstar then transferred the funds to Bucephalus and the Turnstar CFO signed the necessary investment agreements.

COVID-19 then set upon the world at the end of 2019, resulting in lockdowns and international travel restrictions. Mr Razi and Mr Lakhani did not provide updates to Mr Abdoola, even though the building was meant to be completed and the necessary transfers were to be done. They alleged that the finishing of the building was held up du.e’ to COVID-related delays. Mr Abdoola appeared to have accepted this explanation as COVID had impacted business worldwide. He continued to follow up on the progress through 2020 and Mr Razi and Mr Lakhani made similar excuses.

At the end of February 2021 , we believe that Mr Razi contacted Mr Abdoola, as Mr Razi was frantic and said that he had just found ‘out that Mr. Lakhani had misappropriated some of the investor funds from this project and used those funds on another personal project, causing the delay in completion. Dubai had just opened up for international travel from Botswana and Mr. Abdoola arrived in Dubai the same week.

Upon arrival, Mr. Abdoola visited the site, and Mr Razi explained that the contractors were refusing to complete the project due to money owed to them. Mr Abdoola spent the next few days meeting with the contractor and all sub-contractors. The contractors said that they were owed money and agreed to complete work if Mr Abdoola paid their outstanding balances. Mr Abdoola started making the payments needed to get the building completed.

At this point, Uzair Razi continued to lead others to believe that he was trying to help. Uzair finally disclosed that Mr. Lakhani did not transfer the land and the building to Bucephalus Holding (for onward transfer to the investors), as agreed, but had actually transferred the building to a friend of Mr. Lakhani’s – a Mr. Furqan Hussain, a resident of Pakistan. Uzair also said that he and Mr. Lakhani both had power of attorney in place, to develop, manage and transfer the building to its rightful owners. Uzair Razi never provided an answer as to why the building was transferred to this Mr Hussain and claimed to not know why Mr Lakhani had done this.

Uzair also stated that the former owner of the land was a first cousin of Sameer Lakhani’s, that had left Dubai before the transfer of the land took place. Sameer Lakhani held power of attorney for his cousin to complete the transfer. Uzair explained that the same cousin had a travel ban on him but ran away from Dubai.

Recent evidence that has now surfaced in court shows that it was in fact Mr Razi who signed and completed the transfer of this project to Mr Furqan Hussain, in November 2017. Another document that has surfaced in court is a private hand-written agreement dated 26th January 2021, between Mr Razi and Mr Lakhani. This was their own internal agreement, which was never disclosed to Mr Abdoola or the other investors, stating that Mr Razi and Lakhani will each get 16 apartments in the project for themselves, on the condition that Mr Razi would be able to get the project completed. Mr Razi had already conspired to this deal a month before calling Mr Abdoola regarding the issues with completion.

Around this time, it appears that Mr Abdoola retained lawyers in Dubai, and did not invest any more funding into the completion of the building as there was a possibility that Mr Razi and Mr Lakhani could transfer the entire building to themselves on completion. Mr Abdoola visited all contractors and consultants involved, to find out what actually happened on-site, what work had been done, and what funds had been spent, and to presumably introduce himself as the rightful owner.

All parties were completely shocked, as they were told that the building in fact belonged to Mr Razi and Mr Lakhani and that buyers from Africa were interested to view and buy it upon completion. Mr. Abdoola explained that the building belongs to the investors and he would be commencing civil and criminal action against Mr Razi and Mr Lakhani,to try to get the building back.

When this information was discovered in Dubai, Mr Abdoola immediately informed and met with all the investors. He explained that the building should have already been completed with the initial funds put in, but some funds were misappropriated and further explained to them that the allocations they had been sent by Mr Razi were incorrect as each investor was actually due more units. He further explained that he had already commenced the court processes in Dubai, and was unsure how long the process would take. The investors were very disappointed at what Mr Razi and Mr Lakhani had done.

Mr Abdoola then went back to Dubai in May 2021 as the lawyers were ready to submit to the court, and the investors learned that, through the lawyers’ advice, they should either give Mr Abdoola a session of rights of their investments in order to allow him to represent them all in court, or else each investor would have to open their own individual cases, a costly, complex, and time­ consuming exercise. The investors were updated on the situation and understood that the court processes in Dubai can be extremely long, and if at any point in time they would prefer it, Mr Abdoola was willing to pay them out as they had invested due to trust in him and his recommendation.

Documents that have surfaced during the court proceedings include:

Handwritten agreement between Uzair Razi & Sameer Lakhani dated January 26, 2021. Uzair Razi’s current account statement with Global Capital Partners reflects many entries related to several clients. The statement shows a commission received by Mr. Razi for the sale of the Palazzo Venezia building to Tumstar, of AED 1, 442, 300. It also shows the transfer fee received from Tumstar of AED 1 153 840. The transfer of ownership of the land to Furqan Hussain, and the subsequent agreements in 2017, were all signed by Uzair Razi.

In February 2022, Uzair Razi met one of Mr Abdoola’s lawyers. This same week, Rizwan Desi (Turnstar’s lawyer) accepted Uzair’s public offer for an interview – however, Uzair then backed out and refused to be interviewed. Uzair claimed he had a lot of documents in his possession that can help prove the claims and that he is willing to cooperate if Mr Abdoola would consider releasing him from the relevant cases. Uzair also claimed that he has invested AED 700K into the building but did not provide details on all payments made to him.

Uzair’s lawyer contacted Mr Abdoola and/or his lawyers to meet and a time was agreed to meet with both clients present. Mr Abdoola and his lawyers went to the meeting on February 22, but Uzair was not present. It is understood that Uzair wanted 25% of the project, regardless of his contribution amount.

Turnstar – Palazzo Venezia

This building was offered to Mr Abdoola for Tumstar Holdings. It was a brand new, completed office block with a few retail units on the ground level. The building looked nice and well-finished. Mr Razi and Mr Lakhani presented the building with a pre-lease from a Logistics company that would rent the entire building. Turnstar would have a five-year lease with a starting rental of AED 3,1 million per annum.

Mr Abdoola then asked the Turnstar CFO to come to Dubai and have a look at the property, to decide if it was worth having a look for Turnstar to acquire, as the management would have to conduct due diligence. The CFO agreed that the building and the returns both looked favorable.

It is difficult for management to gauge the value of a building just by looking at it since the same sized building in Botswana would be far less expensive than it is in Dubai. When management arrived back home the CFO commenced the due diligence process as is followed on all projects of a large amount. Turnstar management asked Mr Razi to provide a valuation for the building through a reputable company, examine the lease, and verify the title deeds. Mr Razi was the agent and the man on the ground, holding a power of attorney and was meant to safeguard the interests of Turnstar Holdings.

For two and a half years, there were no issues as the rentals were coming in as per the lease. When COVID happened, the rental payments stopped coming in. When management followed up, they were told that since Emirates has suspended most of their flights, the same Logistics company tenant was not able to conduct its business at the same capacity. It was suggested to give them a few months of rental holidays, and then a reduced rental, to give them time for their business to recover. Management understood this and believed Mr Razi, as the same lenience was shown by Turnstar to other tenants in Game City, and Mlimani City in Tanzania.

They said that the tenant is prepared to give Tumstar an apartment of his own, valued at AED 1,5 million, instead of back rentals. Tumstar accepted, planning to then sell the apartment to recover the funds. All correspondence with Mr Razi regarding this attempt to recover the rentals can verify these facts. When Mr Abdoola was in Dubai in March 2021 and found out about the issues on the Okavango development projected, Turnstar CFO was notified and retained legal counsel in Dubai.

What the attorneys came back with was shocking. The lease that was held by Tumstar for the Logistics company was a false lease, created by Mr Lakhani and Mr Razi. The building was not occupied by that tenant but instead seemed to be occupied by various small tenants. Even the building valuation provided to Turnstar was based on a fake lease, resulting in a higher valuation and purchase price.

The rentals being paid by these tenants were far lower than the amount stipulated in Tumstar’s lease. The 4% transfer fees that Turnstar had paid to Global Capital Partners, to be paid to the land department were not paid – it was kept by GCP. The VAT collected in the sale was not paid in full to the relevant government department.

Mr Lakhani had been depositing the rentals that were received from the various tenants, into an account held by Palazzo Venezia, where Mr Lakhani was the sole signatory. This account was by himself. This is highly unusual as Mr Lakhani was not authorized on behalf of Palazzo Venezia, and the bank would normally conduct a KYC on all accounts. It seems that if you are the son of a high­ ranking bank executive the KYC procedure does not apply. It also appears that Mr Razi executed a resolution, purportedly as an agent of Tumstar but without notifying Tumstar, to authorize Mr. Lakhani to continue to operate the bank accounts of Palazzo Venezia.

The attorneys in Dubai pursued civil and criminal cases against Mr Sameer Lakhani, Mr Uzair Razi, and their accountants at GCP in this matter. The court cases are ongoing and it seems that the investors are seeking to recover the loss of value in the building.

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