Asiaweek: paradise lost
Ancalime
In depht article about the Brunei royal family . especially that spendthrift
brother of the sultan, Jefri. Seems that prince Azim is walking in his
footsteps instead of those of his father......
Ancalime
-------
Paradise Lost
It was dubbed the sale of the century - the auction of luxury assets
acquired by the Sultan of Brunei's disgraced brother, Prince Jefri. But what
went under the hammer covers only a fraction of what Jefri owes. And the
fallout from the scandal has far-reaching implications for Brunei and the
ruling dynasty
By WILLIAM MELLOR
Now this is a man who knows how to live. Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei
rules his tiny realm from the world's largest residential palace built on
the edge of the Borneo jungle. The gold-domed Istana Nurul Imam has 1,788
rooms, which makes it bigger than the Vatican and on a par with Versailles.
A banquet hall seats 5,000. There is an underground garage the size of a
megamall parking lot. The office where the Sultan works resembles a
super-luxurious hotel suite. The furniture is Louis XIV, and two Renoirs
adorn the walls. Until this month, it seemed somewhat excessive for a
monarch who rules over just 330,000 subjects.
Not any more. At what must have been one of history's most bizarre auctions
last week, it became clear that the Sultan doesn't hold a candle to his
younger brother Prince Jefri. Up for sale: the contents of dozens of
palaces, guest houses and hotels once owned by the Sultan's disgraced
younger brother. Once again, the troubles of the royal House of Brunei and
its excesses were being flashed before the world. The sale exposed Jefri's
sex-crazed, profligate life - habits that dragged him deeply into debt and
drained the foreign exchange reserves of what was once one of the world's
richest countries. A clampdown on government spending following Jefri's
binge has plunged the tiny Brunei private sector into deep recession.
And the royals were all once having such fun. For 13 years, Jefri was the
Sultan's trusted finance minister and head of the Brunei Investment Agency,
the secrecy-shrouded body set up to invest the country's vast oil revenues.
There were girls, there was polo, there were wild shopping sprees. It all
started to fall apart four years ago. Jefri's rivals, including his devoutly
Islamic brother, Prince Mohamed, accused him of spending billions of dollars
of the BIA's funds on his own profligate lifestyle and personal
megaprojects. His company, construction conglomerate Amedeo Development
Corp., collapsed with debts of $3.5 billion. That was nothing compared with
what the Sultan claimed Jefri owed. Last year, the Sultan's government began
civil proceedings against his brother, claiming Jefri misappropriated $16
billion from the BIA - perhaps as much as half Brunei's reserves. According
to documents filed in court, Jefri had been spending money at the rate of
$747,000 a day for 10 years.
Eventually, the Sultan and Jefri settled out of court. But the playboy
prince's bankrupt company still owes $1 billion to 300 creditors ranging
from giant Korean corporation Hyundai to Thai construction workers. And in
six frantic days from August 11 to 16, perspiring auctioneers flown in from
Britain set about disposing of the contents of 21 warehouses packed with
just a tiny fraction of those purchases. Items that went under the hammer
ranged from the grand to the gauche. There was flashy Italian furniture and
fine English china. There were marble jacuzzis and gold-plated toilet
brushes. Then there were what one of the auctioneers, Mark Isaacs, described
as "the big boys' toys." The biggest, Jefri's 50-meter yacht, called Tits,
wasn't one of them. It had already been sold privately along with its two
lifeboats, Nipple 1 and Nipple 2. But Jefri had even more unusual toys: up
for sale was a $12-million Airbus A340 aircraft cockpit simulator, a
Comanche attack helicopter simulator and an F-1 racing car simulator.
The Jefri story is about more than greed, lust and the country's waning
fortunes. It also highlights a struggle for the religious and economic soul
of the tiny nation. The divisions reach to the highest levels of the royal
family. On one side is the libertine Jefri; on the other his pious brother,
Mohamed. In the middle is the 55-year-old Sultan Hassanal, a shy, seemingly
diffident man who finds it almost impossible to make small talk and has at
various times sided with one brother or the other.
Hassanal, Mohamed, Jefri and a seldom seen fourth brother, Sufri, are heirs
to an unbroken 600-year-old Muslim dynasty. In a memoir published recently,
Mohamed described Brunei's history as being like a roller coaster. At its
height, Brunei's sultans controlled an empire that stretched to the southern
Philippines. But during the 19th century, it had plumbed the depths, reduced
almost to extinction by the expansionary claims of the neighboring white
rajahs of Sarawak. Finally, the ruling family threw itself and its remaining
5,800 square kilometers of northwest Borneo on the mercy of the British, who
ruled for the next century, leaving the Sultan of the day limited powers. In
1962, the present Sultan's father flirted with democratic elections, but
when the wrong party won, he refused to accept the result. A rebellion
erupted and was only put down when the British flew in Gurkha troops from
Singapore. Gurkhas have been stationed in the country ever since to protect
the royals and their oil.
After independence in 1984, the young 29th Sultan, Hassanal, put Mohamed in
charge of foreign affairs and Jefri finances. Running the economy seemed
simple. The brothers took the revenues from the oil and gas - Brunei is the
world's fourth largest producer of LNG - and then decided how much would go
to the royal family, how much to the people and how much would be invested
abroad by the BIA as a nest egg for the day, 20 odd years hence, when the
hydrocarbons would run out.
The three brothers made an unlikely triumvirate. Mohamed was as religious as
Jefri was libidinous. And their rivalry was intense. While Jefri took four
wives - the maximum permitted under Islam - and flew in foreign women to
entertain himself and his friends, Mohamed married only once to a woman he
describes in his book as "my lifelong friend and partner." The Sultan took
two wives, the second an air hostess with Royal Brunei Airlines. Reportedly
a playboy in his younger days, he increasingly appeared to take his royal
and religious duties seriously. Similarly, his early attachment to Jefri was
eclipsed by a growing reliance on Mohamed. Despite several bad investments
and splurges on airplanes, cars and a $17-million 50th birthday party
featuring Michael Jackson, the sultan had built up foreign reserves
estimated at $40 billion. American business magazines anointed him the
world's richest man.
Jefri had other ideas for the oil revenues. He believed that rather than
saving for tomorrow, at least some of those vast reserves should be spent
today, on even more fun playthings - but also to fund the non-oil economy.
He proposed construction of roads, a new power station to correct the
country's unreliable electricity supply, a cellphone network that actually
worked, satellite television that, unlike the local station, was really
worth watching, and Britain's Capital Gold radio station broadcast
real-time. Most grandiose of all was his plan to convert a small fishing
village called Jerudong into a playground both for the royal family and
tourists. He set up Amedeo Development Corp. and other companies to see it
through.
OUT OF REACH
Thought the auction was fabulous? The creditors don't think so because
Prince Jefri's and Amedeo's most valuable possessions weren't on the block.
They're tied up by vague lines of ownership and a Brunei court injunction
against their sale. A few examples:
Property Location Book Value
Berakas Power Station Brunei $603.0 million
New York Palace Hotel New York, U.S.A. $114.6 million
Beach House 2 Brunei $53.4 million
Spanish Trail Villa Las Vegas, U.S.A. $49.0 million
Binfield Manor Berkshire, U.K. $43.2 million
Bowmont residence Los Angeles, U.S.A. $35.5 million
Assarra concert hall Brunei $27.8 million
Tomiyasu Ranch House Las Vegas, U.S.A. $25.1 million
Ancaster House London, U.K. $10.8 million
For the royals, Jefri built a lavish polo club, where at its peak top
players were flown in from Argentina and 2,000 ponies were kept in
air-conditioned luxury. The Sultan and Jefri played there regularly, as did
visitors such as Britain's Prince Charles. Then there was the Royal Brunei
Golf and Country Club, open only to the royal family. Across the road arose
a Disney-style theme park, complete with free rides for all. Nearby was a
medical center staffed by Western doctors and filled with the most modern
equipment and an international school.
The centerpiece of Jefri's ambitions was the six-star Empire Hotel, a
530-room fantasy adorned with marble, granite and gold and featuring an
80-meter-high atrium - reputedly the world's largest - and an emperor suite
with an indoor swimming pool. The hotel also had its own Jack
Nicklaus-designed golf course, cinema and man-made lagoon complete with
imported sand. Cost: a staggering $800 million even before the separate
banqueting hall was complete. The investment made no economic sense.
According to one tourism industry analyst, the hotel would have to achieve
90% occupancy for 60 years at rates of $500 a night to even cover the
investment. Last week, the hotel had discounted down to $150 for foreigners
and just $90 for Bruneians. Although hotel staff weren't saying, occupancy
appeared to be around 10%. Says Peter Burke, the Australian architect who
designed it: "It was never a commercial proposition. It was a memorial to
one man's ego."
Jefri didn't stop there. Numerous guest houses - some complete, others
abandoned - are scattered across the country. Some of these were sites of
lavish parties where foreign women flown in by Jefri, sometimes American and
Filipina beauty queens, danced with privileged guests. The scandal of Jefri
and his women made world headlines in 1997 when one of those beauty queens,
American Shannon Marketic, sued the Sultan and Jefri in the U.S., claiming
she had been lured to Brunei to be a sex slave. The case did not proceed on
the grounds that the brothers enjoyed diplomatic immunity.
Jefri's profligacy was not confined to Brunei. He and the Sultan had always
invested heavily in residential properties and hotels - between them their
portfolio included the Dorchester Hotel in London, the Plaza Athenee in
Paris, the Palace in New York, the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles and
the most expensive houses in London and Las Vegas. Some of these were good
investments. But Jefri's attempt at retail, the purchase of Britain's royal
jeweler, Asprey, was a disaster. The price he paid, $385 million, was twice
the real value, according to analysts. It turned out he was one of Asprey's
biggest customers. When he sold it four years later, he recouped less than
half his outlay. Last week, thousands of pieces of Asprey tableware went
under the hammer in Brunei.
Despite such business blunders, Jefri remained popular at home. His one-man
bubble economy was providing huge profits for contractors and jobs for
Bruneians. Says businessman and commentator Ignatius Stephen, owner of
website BruDirect.com: "Brunei was beginning to become a fun place thanks to
Jefri. The trouble is, people didn't count the cost of the fun." When he
wasn't spending on himself, he was being equally extravagant with Amedeo's
money. Contractors were ludicrously overpaid. Some of his own senior
executives ripped him off. One even set up his own company to sub-contract
jobs from Amedeo. Says taxi driver Francis Yong: "He was a good guy, but he
was no good with money. You could give him a nail or a screw and tell him it
cost $2,000 and he would believe you."
The crunch finally came in 1997. Word spread that Amedeo - named after
Jefri's favorite painter, Amedeo Modigliani - was in trouble. Jefri was
sacked as finance minister. Some 200 accountants from Arthur Andersen and
KPMG flew into Brunei to scrutinize the Amedeo and BIA books. But by the
time they got there, many documents had disappeared. The following year,
Amedeo was wound up with debts of $3.5 billion. Then last year, Jefri and
his son, Hakim, were accused by the sultan of misappropriating $15 billion
from the BIA. Soon after, the brothers settled out of court.
As part of the deal, Jefri gets an allowance of $300,000 a month, enough to
allow him to continue to flit between Paris, London and New York ahead of
his creditors. While the civil suit brought by the Sultan's government has
been settled, the 300 creditors continue to pursue him. The last time he was
in Brunei, lawyers acting for the creditors failed to serve a summons on
him - the royals have so many palaces in Brunei, it is hard to know where to
look.
As the prince plays cat and mouse games with his creditors, conflicting
forces are vying for supremacy in the seemingly somnolent capital, Bandar
Seri Begawan. Despite being an absolute monarch, the Sultan walks a fine
line between conservative and liberal forces, both in religious and economic
matters. Jefri is seen as the arch liberal on both counts. Following his
downfall, the conservatives in economic and religious positions are in the
ascendancy. Says a construction industry executive: "The only new building
going up in town just now is the new Sharia (Islamic) court." He's wrong.
Another piece of construction - or rather deconstruction - is going on. A
newly built bank building - originally another Jefri project - is having the
top six stories lopped off after objections that it is taller than Brunei's
landmark gold-domed Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque. That project is nicknamed
"the circumcision."
Brunei's debate over liquor laws reflects the conflicting conservative and
liberal Islamic forces. Since 1991, purchase of alcohol has been officially
banned, although in recent years authorities have increasingly turned a
blind eye. Today, even the casual visitor can relatively easily get a drink.
At some Chinese restaurants, the customer only has to ask for "special tea."
The response from the waitress may be: "Heineken tea or Carlsberg tea?" The
chosen brew is then dispensed at the table from a teapot. Elsewhere,
customers dispense harder liquor from under the table while entertained by
miniskirted Filipina hostesses. Many Bruneians believe the only hope for
Brunei's nascent tourism industry is to allow liquor sales, at least to
foreigners. But with Jefri's demise, they believe there is now little hope
of that. Indeed, some fear even the speakeasies may now be closed.
Tourism is one of the few possible bright spots for the struggling Brunei
economy. But much remains to be done in terms of developing attractions.
Last week in the Empire Hotel, Japanese package tourists on a charter flight
from Osaka seemed bemused amid the luxury. Two women, Maeko and Miya, both
33, giggled as they pondered why they had decided on Brunei. "It's a fantasy
place," said Miya.
Superficially, the economic outlook does not seem too bad. Even after
Jefri's inroads into Brunei's nest egg, the country still has some $20
billion stashed away. Oil revenues also ensure Bruneians need pay no tax and
benefit from the so-called Shellfare State - free cradle to grave health
care and education. So what is wrong? For a start, the economy is almost
entirely reliant on oil. The commodity, which has sustained Brunei since
1929, may not last more than another 20 years. The country is desperate to
strengthen its non-oil private sector by encouraging foreign investment.
Open-minded Bruneians hope to transform Brunei into an offshore banking
center specializing in Islamic finance.
But the Jefri scandal could scupper such plans. The government spending
freeze means there is no work for the fledgling private sector. And the
plight of Amedeo's 300 creditors is hardly an incentive for new investment.
Indeed, the bankruptcy of Amedeo has pitted the government and foreign
investors against each other. Part of the problem is that after the Sultan's
government sued Jefri for $16 billion in the Brunei courts, the two brothers
reached an out-of-court settlement under which Jefri agreed to return all
property acquired with money derived from the BIA. So choice assets such as
the Plaza Athenee Hotel in Paris and Jefri's green-painted Boeing 737
aircraft can't be sold to help pay off nongovernment creditors.
Worse for creditors, the government is also claiming that Amedeo's choice
local assets, including the Empire Hotel and a $600-million power station,
were built on state land and therefore cannot be sold off either to pay
debts. So far, the Amedeo liquidators are offering Hyundai, Citibank and
others just 17 cents in the dollar. Says Burke, the Empire Hotel architect
who is owed $2 million: "The government is trying to recover its own losses
at our expense. This is hardly likely to encourage other people to come and
invest here." Government officials respond that it is sticking strictly to
the legal process, and some observers note the courts do sometimes rule in
favor of creditors pursuing claims through the courts. But in the case of
Jefri, the line between what belongs to a royal and what belongs to the
government has certainly become blurred.
The fallout from Jefri's excess (the equivalent of up to four years' GDP)
could have economic, political and social repercussions for decades. Private
construction companies are facing bankruptcy. Unemployment is rising. So is
tension between fundamentalist and liberal Muslims. Some analysts even go so
far as to suggest Brunei's stability - and with it the absolute rule of a
600-year-old dynasty - could have been structurally damaged. The
repercussions could also reverberate across the region. At the height of the
Asian crisis, the Sultan lent money to neighboring countries. It reputedly
helped prop up the Singapore dollar at one stage. In its present weakened
state, Brunei can all but look after itself.
Perhaps most crucial is the possible impact on a new generation of
Bruneians. Thanks to government scholarships, they have returned to Brunei
with their British university degrees and upper-class accents only to find
few job opportunities. Some 75% of all Bruneians earn their living pushing
paper at government desks. But as Brunei cuts its budget, fewer such jobs
will be available. Having spent years in swinging London and other Western
cities, they find it hard enough to adapt to austere Brunei, where they are
forced to party behind closed doors. With no government jobs and fewer
entrepreneurial opportunities in the wake of Jefri's demise, there may be
little to keep them in Brunei.
Despite the embarrassment and the economic crisis, the Brunei royal family
keeps a stiff upper lip in public. In a rare interview in the palace with
the Sultan last October, the ruler was unruffled when asked if the Jefri
scandal was affecting confidence in the country. The sultan's response was
polite but unforthcoming: "The matter has been resolved amicably and I do
not think it would serve any purpose to revive it." But like it or not,
Jefri's legacy is everywhere. Just a few minutes' drive from downtown Bandar
Seri Begawan, a huge domed building that was once destined to be his private
office lies derelict, only 60% complete and slowly being reclaimed by the
jungle. Elsewhere, an entire estate of apartment blocks lies empty.
At last week's auction, some 1,000 buyers vied for a piece of Jefri's
tarnished legacy. Most prominent was glamorous Singapore socialite,
celebrity divorcE and shopper extraordinaire Venus Teo. Dubbed the Queen of
Orchard Road for services to the Lion City's retailers, Teo turned up with
her Spanish-born interior designer, Isabelle Miaja. Teo declared she would
spend as much as $170,000 for the right pieces. "I normally buy in Milan or
New York," Teo told ASIAWEEK breathlessly. "But I couldn't miss the
opportunity of this. Especially knowing who it all comes from." Even in
disgrace, Jefri still has cachet.
Fujikawa Yamamoto
news:f34ahr$tt2$01$1...@news.t-online.com:
> http://www.pathfinder.com/asiaweek/magazine/Enterprise/0,8782,171443,00
> .html
Great article! Wonder if wacko is going to get his money up front, or if
he has to get in line with everyone else.
--
The new "Jackson 5"
Jordy Chandler
Jason Fancia
Jimmy Safechuck
Jonathan Spence
Jo Jo Elatab
SneakyP
online.com:
> Spanish Trail Villa Las Vegas, U.S.A. $49.0 million
>
***DING***
Jack0 certainly did NOT leave Bahrain property.
Awww pambo, aren't you gonna explode now.
--
SneakyP
What's posted in ng stays in ng.
Pambo admits her scorn for MJ victims:
"f'ck the real victims, they don't matter"
FragileWarrior
news:f34ahr$tt2$01$1...@news.t-online.com:
> Once again, the troubles of the royal House of Brunei and
> its excesses were being flashed before the world. The sale exposed
> Jefri's sex-crazed, profligate life - habits that dragged him deeply
> into debt and drained the foreign exchange reserves of what was once
> one of the world's richest countries.
Yep, just the kind of guy a whispery voiced girly man might want to cozy up
to, eh, f'loons? Why is it that sex, sex, SEX keeps coming up (pardon the
phrase) around Wacko?
FragileWarrior
news:Xns993A6E358D...@69.28.186.121:
> Pambo forced "Ancalime" <an...@hotmail.com> to post this at:
> alt.music.michael-jackson:
>
>> http://www.pathfinder.com/asiaweek/magazine/Enterprise/0,8782,171443,0
>> 0 .html
>>
>> In depht article about the Brunei royal family . especially that
>> spendthrift brother of the sultan, Jefri. Seems that prince Azim is
>> walking in his footsteps instead of those of his father......
>>
>> Ancalime
>
>
> Whooooo... what an article and thanks for posting it. Amazing. No
> wonder Wacko finds the Brunei royals so comfy. Some of them are just
> like him. Poor, Jefri... reduced to an allowance of $300,000 a month.
> That must be very painful for the old pervert. Now Wacko doesn't even
> get an allowance. Whatever will Wacko do when the bottoms falls out?
>
>
If he's only getting $300,000/mo, where do you suppose he's getting $10 mil
for Wacko? Oh, that's right, that's prolly a LIE.
2nz Vs Floons
wrote:
> Island Girly <sneddonpayr...@payhaters.lot> wrote innews:Xns993A6E358D...@69.28.186.121:
>
>
>
> > Pambo forced "Ancalime" <a...@hotmail.com> to post this at:
> > alt.music.michael-jackson:
>
> >>http://www.pathfinder.com/asiaweek/magazine/Enterprise/0,8782,171443,0
> >> 0 .html
>
> >> In depht article about the Brunei royal family . especially that
> >> spendthrift brother of the sultan, Jefri. Seems that prince Azim is
> >> walking in his footsteps instead of those of his father......
>
> >> Ancalime
>
> > Whooooo... what an article and thanks for posting it. Amazing. No
> > wonder Wacko finds the Brunei royals so comfy. Some of them are just
> > like him. Poor, Jefri... reduced to an allowance of $300,000 a month.
> > That must be very painful for the old pervert. Now Wacko doesn't even
> > get an allowance. Whatever will Wacko do when the bottoms falls out?
>
> If he's only getting $300,000/mo, where do you suppose he's getting $10 mil
> for Wacko? Oh, that's right, that's prolly a LIE.
If Wacko is mooching off him, maybe he was ORDERED to go to the
birthday bash.
Perhaps Wacko is somewhat of a pet monkey.
Roofshadow
Just when you think that the redemption can't get any sweeter...
--
Roofshadow
AUK FNG