'I can buy the law' said Sheikh Maher al-Tajir as he dismissed his gamekeeper
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Jan 22, 2008, 2:27:09 PM1/22/08
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From Times OnlineJanuary 22, 2008
'I can buy the law' said Sheikh Maher al-Tajir as he dismissed his
gamekeeper
David Lister, Scotland Correspondent of The Times
A billionaire Arab sheikh said that British law worked on “money not
justice”, and vowed to “stitch up” an employee who dared to challenge
him, an employment tribunal was told yesterday.
Sheikh Maher al-Tajir, whose family owns 24,000 acres (9,700ha) of
land in Perthshire and the Highland Spring bottled water company, is
alleged to have told Chris Mulqueeney that he had enough money to buy
anything he wanted in Britain, including the police and the
justiciary.
When the former head gamekeeper said that Britain wasn’t like that,
the sheikh is said to have replied: “You’re so patriotic. Hasn’t
anyone told you that the law of this great land works on money, not
justice, and I’ve got enough money to buy any of them? The police, the
justiciary — all have their price in this country.”
The claims came as Mr Mulqueeney, 48, who worked as Mr al-Tajir’s head
gamekeeper after moving his family from Kent to Scotland in 2001, told
an employment tribunal in Edinburgh that the sheikh launched a two-
hour verbal assault on him during a meeting in September 2004.
Related Links
Sheikh ‘led a witch-hunt against his gamekeeper’
He said: “It was the most incredible onslaught, like you’d never seen.
I’ve never witnessed anything like it.”
Describing the occasion as “more like a battleground than a meeting”,
he said that Mr al-Tajir, who is a member of the Dubai Royal Family,
had made explicit threats to dismiss him.
“He said to me, ‘You have taken me on and no one, but no one, takes me
on’. He said, ‘I’ll find a reason to get rid of you’. And I said, ‘You
can’t do that, Maher, if I haven’t done anything wrong’. He said, ‘I
can and I will find a reason to get rid of you. I’ll instruct my legal
team to stitch you up’.”
A note written by Mr Mulqueeney soon after the meeting recorded: “He
[the sheikh] said he would find a reason for a verbal warning on
Monday, another reason for a written warning on Tuesday, a final
warning on Wednesday, a hearing on Thursday and dismissal on Friday,
and his lawyers will make sure that it was all within the letter of
the law.”
Mr Mulqueeney claims that he was dismissed unfairly from his position
as head gamekeeper at Blackford Farms, near Dunblane, in Perthshire,
which is owned by the press-shy al-Tajir family. He said that there
was a witch-hunt to remove him from his job and that he was dismissed
finally after a series of heated exchanges with Mr al-Tajir in 2004.
He also asserted that he was verbally promised bonuses based on the
number of grouse and pheasants reared and shot by visitors, but that
he was never paid these.
Mr al-Tajir, 50, who is not attending the hearing, denies any such
agreement.
Mr Mulqueeney told the tribunal yesterday that the sheikh’s attitude
towards him changed after he went into hospital after an accident in
July 2004. While recuperating at home, he received a telephone call
from Mr al-Tajir. “I went to the phone thinking he’d called to ask me
how I was. He said, ‘Pick me up at seven in the morning, I need a lift
to the [river] Tay for fishing’.” After Mr Mulqueeney explained that
he was too sick to work, the sheikh is said to have grown angry. “He
said, ‘That’s no good to me if you can’t be there when I want you’,
and put the phone down on me with the odd added swear word,” he said.
He said that at another meeting in January 2005 Mr al-Tajir again
exploded, swearing at the gamekeeper’s wife, who also attended.
Mr Mulqueeney, who said that the accident led to his being treated for
an abnormal heart rhythm, recalled: “It was horrendous. After the
meeting my GP issued me with a letter to not attend any more meetings
like it.”
The hearing continues.
Have your say
I worked in the Middle East for many years. Sheikh Maher al-Tajir's
attitude is all too common. Plenty of British people lost their jobs
through unfounded allegations or simply because the local big wig
wanted to give their job to a relative. In any dispute an Arabs
allegation is automatically believed. I would remind Mohammed A that
the whole of the Middle East was set free by General Allenby in the
First World War after almost 500 years of Turkish rule. The Turks,
although of the same religion, behaved far worse than the British ever
did. Anyhow Mo old lad what are you doing here if you hate us so much?
B. Curtis, Crawley, England
To be honest, in some rspects he is right. The British system is
following hot on the heels of the American justice system. It's no
longer a matter of who is right and who is wrong, it's more a case of
who can afford the best lawyer!
Ron, Milton Keynes, Bucks
He just happens to be foreign and muslim... You get people like this
from all over the world.
Think Money has gone to Sheikh Maher al-Tajir head!!!
chetas patel, Croydon, Surrey
I am disgusted at this behaviour and anyone else who agrees should
stop buying 'Highland Spring' water and filling the pockets of a bully
like this. No wonder his family are 'press shy' if they try to
victimise their staff like this. He should get the highest penalty the
tribunal can give him.
On a different note, I am always a bit loathed to read articles like
this because it ALWAYS into a 'them' and 'us' free for all.
We aren't all bigots in the UK so let's not have everyone else think
we are?
Charlotte, Wilts, UK
Mohammed A: may I remind you of Ottoman Imperialism and of Arab
Imperialism? Neither forces for good, only for land
grabbing,exploitation and forced religious conversion. A little
reflection on history might take the smugly ironic smile off your
face.
Dectora , London, UK
I disagree with Brian Clacey.
Didn't the British go around pillaging and raping in the gud ol days?
at least us foreigners are BUYING the land HAHAHA
Mohammed A, Manchester,
Isn't it high time foreigners in general, and Third World tyrants in
particular, were prevented from buying up property (especially
housing!) in Britain?
What on earth do you expect if you allow these people in? And why
would the likes of Sheikh Maher al-Tajir wish to live in a non-Muslim
country anyway?
Brian Clacey, Croydon, UK
Read all 7 comments
Have your say
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3225801.ece
'I can buy the law' said Sheikh Maher al-Tajir as he dismissed his
gamekeeper
David Lister, Scotland Correspondent of The Times
A billionaire Arab sheikh said that British law worked on “money not
justice”, and vowed to “stitch up” an employee who dared to challenge
him, an employment tribunal was told yesterday.
Sheikh Maher al-Tajir, whose family owns 24,000 acres (9,700ha) of
land in Perthshire and the Highland Spring bottled water company, is
alleged to have told Chris Mulqueeney that he had enough money to buy
anything he wanted in Britain, including the police and the
justiciary.
When the former head gamekeeper said that Britain wasn’t like that,
the sheikh is said to have replied: “You’re so patriotic. Hasn’t
anyone told you that the law of this great land works on money, not
justice, and I’ve got enough money to buy any of them? The police, the
justiciary — all have their price in this country.”
The claims came as Mr Mulqueeney, 48, who worked as Mr al-Tajir’s head
gamekeeper after moving his family from Kent to Scotland in 2001, told
an employment tribunal in Edinburgh that the sheikh launched a two-
hour verbal assault on him during a meeting in September 2004.
Related Links
Sheikh ‘led a witch-hunt against his gamekeeper’
He said: “It was the most incredible onslaught, like you’d never seen.
I’ve never witnessed anything like it.”
Describing the occasion as “more like a battleground than a meeting”,
he said that Mr al-Tajir, who is a member of the Dubai Royal Family,
had made explicit threats to dismiss him.
“He said to me, ‘You have taken me on and no one, but no one, takes me
on’. He said, ‘I’ll find a reason to get rid of you’. And I said, ‘You
can’t do that, Maher, if I haven’t done anything wrong’. He said, ‘I
can and I will find a reason to get rid of you. I’ll instruct my legal
team to stitch you up’.”
A note written by Mr Mulqueeney soon after the meeting recorded: “He
[the sheikh] said he would find a reason for a verbal warning on
Monday, another reason for a written warning on Tuesday, a final
warning on Wednesday, a hearing on Thursday and dismissal on Friday,
and his lawyers will make sure that it was all within the letter of
the law.”
Mr Mulqueeney claims that he was dismissed unfairly from his position
as head gamekeeper at Blackford Farms, near Dunblane, in Perthshire,
which is owned by the press-shy al-Tajir family. He said that there
was a witch-hunt to remove him from his job and that he was dismissed
finally after a series of heated exchanges with Mr al-Tajir in 2004.
He also asserted that he was verbally promised bonuses based on the
number of grouse and pheasants reared and shot by visitors, but that
he was never paid these.
Mr al-Tajir, 50, who is not attending the hearing, denies any such
agreement.
Mr Mulqueeney told the tribunal yesterday that the sheikh’s attitude
towards him changed after he went into hospital after an accident in
July 2004. While recuperating at home, he received a telephone call
from Mr al-Tajir. “I went to the phone thinking he’d called to ask me
how I was. He said, ‘Pick me up at seven in the morning, I need a lift
to the [river] Tay for fishing’.” After Mr Mulqueeney explained that
he was too sick to work, the sheikh is said to have grown angry. “He
said, ‘That’s no good to me if you can’t be there when I want you’,
and put the phone down on me with the odd added swear word,” he said.
He said that at another meeting in January 2005 Mr al-Tajir again
exploded, swearing at the gamekeeper’s wife, who also attended.
Mr Mulqueeney, who said that the accident led to his being treated for
an abnormal heart rhythm, recalled: “It was horrendous. After the
meeting my GP issued me with a letter to not attend any more meetings
like it.”
The hearing continues.
Have your say
I worked in the Middle East for many years. Sheikh Maher al-Tajir's
attitude is all too common. Plenty of British people lost their jobs
through unfounded allegations or simply because the local big wig
wanted to give their job to a relative. In any dispute an Arabs
allegation is automatically believed. I would remind Mohammed A that
the whole of the Middle East was set free by General Allenby in the
First World War after almost 500 years of Turkish rule. The Turks,
although of the same religion, behaved far worse than the British ever
did. Anyhow Mo old lad what are you doing here if you hate us so much?
B. Curtis, Crawley, England
To be honest, in some rspects he is right. The British system is
following hot on the heels of the American justice system. It's no
longer a matter of who is right and who is wrong, it's more a case of
who can afford the best lawyer!
Ron, Milton Keynes, Bucks
He just happens to be foreign and muslim... You get people like this
from all over the world.
Think Money has gone to Sheikh Maher al-Tajir head!!!
chetas patel, Croydon, Surrey
I am disgusted at this behaviour and anyone else who agrees should
stop buying 'Highland Spring' water and filling the pockets of a bully
like this. No wonder his family are 'press shy' if they try to
victimise their staff like this. He should get the highest penalty the
tribunal can give him.
On a different note, I am always a bit loathed to read articles like
this because it ALWAYS into a 'them' and 'us' free for all.
We aren't all bigots in the UK so let's not have everyone else think
we are?
Charlotte, Wilts, UK
Mohammed A: may I remind you of Ottoman Imperialism and of Arab
Imperialism? Neither forces for good, only for land
grabbing,exploitation and forced religious conversion. A little
reflection on history might take the smugly ironic smile off your
face.
Dectora , London, UK
I disagree with Brian Clacey.
Didn't the British go around pillaging and raping in the gud ol days?
at least us foreigners are BUYING the land HAHAHA
Mohammed A, Manchester,
Isn't it high time foreigners in general, and Third World tyrants in
particular, were prevented from buying up property (especially
housing!) in Britain?
What on earth do you expect if you allow these people in? And why
would the likes of Sheikh Maher al-Tajir wish to live in a non-Muslim
country anyway?
Brian Clacey, Croydon, UK
Read all 7 comments
Have your say
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3225801.ece
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