The Maan Al Sanea Case Teaches How To Live Like A Billionaire
THANKS to Saudi Arabian businessman Maan al Sanea’s appearance at the High Court, London, we get to see how a billionaire lives.
Maan al Sanea has failed to overturn a $9.2bn freezing order on his worldwide assets. But the law says he now allowed $4m spending money a year. And he needs the cash.
We worry if Mr Sanea can manage to eke out an existence on £4million a year? The FT:
The judge raised a cap on Mr Sanea’s living expenses from $10,000 a week to $1m a quarter, although even this fell well short of the sum of at least $30m a year that he had requested.
Mr Beazley [Tom Beazley QC, his lawyer] said the initial $10,000 limit was far too harsh for someone who had been recognised as one of the richest people in the world.
It’s not just about standards:
“He spends $800,000 on electricity, gas, telephone, water and satellite bills every month,” Mr Beazley told the judge. “He has a zoo, my lord.” The zoo includes lions and giraffes, according to Mr Sanea’s legal team.
Would you have it that the lions and the giraffes starve – that these lions turn on the giraffes?
As for the case:
The battle in London is part of the increasingly public falling out between Mr Sanea’s Saad Group and Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi and Brothers (Ahab), also a troubled conglomerate, which between them are estimated to owe dozens of regional and international banks $20bn.
Mr Sanea used the latest court hearing to deny for the first time in detail allegations made by Ahab in lawsuits in New York, the Cayman Islands and London that he oversaw a fraud of up to $10bn while an executive of the company.
The case continues. The lions and giraffes wait…
Posted: 6th, October 2009 | In: Money Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
