Fahim in trouble over hot pictures
The Emirati architect of the takeover of English football club Manchester City is at the centre of a controversy over pictures showing him with models and actresses, a report said on Friday.
Sulaiman al-Fahim, who bought the Premier League club earlier this month on behalf of the Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment, was selected by the company to finalise the deal but was not named to head the club, the Al-Emarat Al-Youm newspaper said.
It said the news coincides with the appearance on electronic sites and in newspapers of "sensational" pictures of the 31-year-old entrepreneur in Las Vegas in the company of "actresses, dancers and models," including Playboy cover girl Kim Kardashian.
But Fahim told Al-Emarat Al-Youm by telephone from the United States that "all there is to it is that I was invited to the opening of a restaurant in Las Vegas and the actresses took these shots with me."
Such pictures would be considered inappropriate in the United Arab Emirates, a Muslim country whose native population remains generally conservative despite hosting millions of foreigners, including large numbers of Westerners and other non-Muslims.
Fahim shot to world fame when he bought Manchester City for the Abu Dhabi company of which he is board member and emerged as spokesman for the deal in international media.
The company groups investors led by a UAE minister who is a brother of the Gulf country's president.
The buyout of the English club was seen as part of efforts by Abu Dhabi, an oil-rich emirate and capital of the UAE, to propel itself onto the tourist and sports map.
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