Let's Bash Dubai, It's Easy!

Another piece of disingenuous, Dubai-bashing journalism.

Herve Jaubert is a French National. He’s a former naval officer and a former agent of the DGSE (French intelligence services). According to the article written by Andrew Higgins of the Washington Post, Jaubert was commissioned by Dubai World to build a submarine workshop in the Gulf. And then in 2007, Jaubert was allegedly interrogated and later convicted in absentia for the embezzlement of $ 3.8 million. He was also handed down a 5 years jail sentence. However, in between his interrogation and the sentence, the ex-spy had managed to escape.


According to Higgins, Dubai officials and French Consulate in Dubai didn’t comment on the case. So there is only one side of the story: Jaubert’s.

The first sign of dishonest reporting by Higgins is demonstrated in his rather shrewd reference to when Jaubert’s trouble started, he said:

“Jaubert's troubles began two years ago when Dubai's then-booming economy was showing the first faint signs of strain.”

Absolute nonsense. Two years ago, August of 2007, there were absolutely no signs of economic down-turn, nor there were faint signs of economic down-turns. There has always been the chorus of party poopers and Dubai ill wishers. But as economic indicators go, 2007 was a year of boom for Dubai by all standards.


So why would a journalist for a newspaper of international standards such as the WP make such a (deliberate) mistake? The answer to me is obvious. There’s an underhanded attempt to associate Jaubert’s trial and his sentence with the lawsuits that had cropped up in Dubai AFTER the credit crunch and the downturn. What a sleazy business, being a journalist with an agenda. Higgins then goes on to recount several cases where executives and business owners were tried or being tried on various financial charges.

Don’t get me wrong though, it appears to me (although I’m not an expert) that Dubai bankruptcy laws could use some revisions and updates. Unmet liabilities and debts had lead to the rising number of lawsuits, which itself could become a burden on the economy.

Yet, this is absolutely NOT the case of Jaubert.

At the end of the article, there’s a narrative of the ‘fascinating’ escape plan the ex-spy had conjured up and then executed. And then we are told the whole thing will go into a book titled “Escape From Dubai.". How fascinating.

So Jaubert, who had probably swindled the hell out of the submarine building enterprise, is also going to skim some more money by publishing a book about his story, and giving the uninitiated readers a hard-on about this enigmatic ex spy protagonist who managed to con the Arabs and get away with it. Higgins, of course, was ready to provide publicity.

Well, welcome to the dark side, I guess.

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Edit 1 - 17 Aug 2009 : here's an interesting bit of Jaubert history:

CAUGHT IN THE TRAIN STATION
Their plans began to unravel on Sept. 1, 1994. On that day, the French police anti-gang squad received information from a source that two men planned to commit a robbery that afternoon. Police set up surveillance and followed the men to the Gare de Lyon where they arrested Hervé Jaubert, who had retired in 1993 as a French army captain, and Stéphane Pommier, also an army veteran.

The two men were carrying two bags containing wigs, gloves, handcuffs, a roll of tape, a sawed-off shotgun, a 9mm pistol, shotgun shells, brass knuckles, sunglasses, a truncheon or blackjack, smoke and tear gas grenades. They also carried 19,000 francs in bills of 500 francs and two train tickets to Béziers.

A search of Jaubert’s flat turned up a loaded Smith and Wesson 357 revolver plus 50 cartridges, a Mossbert 12-gage shotgun, a Remington pump action shotgun with shells and 2 two-way radios.

Under interrogation, Jaubert eventually told police that he was on is way to Béziers to intimidate Jacques Michel on behalf of a client whose name he claimed not to know. He said that he had been contracted in July 1994 by his former employer Cayron to conduct surveillance and intimidate Michel. His payment would be 40,000 francs cash. He claimed he hired Pommier to help him because he is a big intimidating guy. Pommier confirmed Jaubert’s story.