Businessman in Dubai deal to face UK fraud charge

A British businessman who was behind property developments in Dubai in which Irish investors lost substantial amounts of money during the boom years has been charged with fraud in the UK in an unrelated matter.

Imtiaz Khoda (42), with an address in Dubai, has been charged along with 14 others in relation to an alleged fraud concerning the diversion of £12 million from the National Health Service and other entities.

A preliminary hearing took place in Lincoln Crown Court recently and the matter was adjourned to January for a plea and case-management hearing.

The alleged fraud involved people contacting organisations masquerading as legitimate construction companies that they had contracts with, claiming their bank details had changed and providing account numbers that instead belonged to companies allegedly owned or controlled by the defendants.

Profile Group

Mr Khoda is the founder of the Profile Group, which was behind the sale of development projects in the multibillion-euro series of man-made islands off the coast of Dubai. Very little building ever took place on the so-called “World” islands.

The group was also connected with Co Clare-based overseas property business Larionovo, which went into liquidation in January 2009. Neither is connected with the UK proceedings.

Co Meath builder Kenny Timmons, who invested a six-figure sum in a proposed development in Dubai, did so by way of payments through Larionovo and the Profile Group.

Mr Timmons said he has made repeated representations to the Dubai authorities but has had no satisfaction. He is a member of the Dubai Action Group, which represents about 200 people who invested up to €20 million with a range of Dubai developers in the boom years and lost their money.

Another member of the group, Tony Hynes, invested about €300,000 in the “Sports City” development in Dubai, which was also associated with Profile. He said he still has dealings with Mr Khoda and that he still hoped he might be able to get some of the money back.

Efforts to contact Mr Khoda met with no response.

In the wake of Larionovo's collapse, five directors of the company – Raymond and Helen Norton, and Andrew Brett, all of Ennis, Co Clare; Barry Hennessy, of Donadea, Co Kildare; and James Burke, of Ballybeg, Ennis, Co Clare – were all restricted from acting as company directors under Section 150 of the Companies Act.