Dubai has become a magnet for Afghanistan's smattering of nouveau riche: many invested heavily in the emirate's seemingly never-ending real estate fairytale.However, the financial crisis abruptly ended Dubai's property boom, and a scandal involving Kabul Bank, Afghanistan's largest private lender, has highlighted the close but opaque ties between the Gulf's commercial entrepot and the Afghan elite. The bank's travails have also involved the blood relatives and political allies of President Hamid Karzai. It recently emerged that Sherkhan Farnood, then chairman of Kabul Bank and a key supporter of Mr Karzai's government, had used the bank's money to invest in Dubai real estate, including villas on the Palm Jumeirah artificial island. This helped trigger panic among depositors and his ousting from the bank by the regulator. Mahmoud Karzai, the Afghan president's brother and the bank's third largest shareholder, with a 7.4 per cent stake, lives in a beachside villa in Dubai.
However, the financial crisis abruptly ended Dubai's property boom, and a scandal involving Kabul Bank, Afghanistan's largest private lender, has highlighted the close but opaque ties between the Gulf's commercial entrepot and the Afghan elite. The bank's travails have also involved the blood relatives and political allies of President Hamid Karzai.
It recently emerged that Sherkhan Farnood, then chairman of Kabul Bank and a key supporter of Mr Karzai's government, had used the bank's money to invest in Dubai real estate, including villas on the Palm Jumeirah artificial island. This helped trigger panic among depositors and his ousting from the bank by the regulator.
Mahmoud Karzai, the Afghan president's brother and the bank's third largest shareholder, with a 7.4 per cent stake, lives in a beachside villa in Dubai.
