Apart from the sectarian and political strife that has plagued the kingdom since the 'Arab Spring' civil unrest which began in February 2011, questions are arising about whether the government, that is to say, the Royal family, has the real tenacity to truly embrace Western capital structuring and a 'normal' regulatory landscape, which includes a fully independent judicial system.

 Bahrain, home port for the US Fifth Naval Fleet, is supposedly a parliamentary constitutional democracy with universal suffrage and a National Assembly. The head of State is the King, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, however nearly all ministries are controlled by close members of the Al Khalifa Royal Family (See Citation), and if not, then appointments are under Royal patronage. Even the Prime Minister, Khalifah bin Salman al-Khalifah, is a cousin of the King - in other words, nepotism is as rife as it gets. And nepotism breeds corruption, also widespread in Bahrain. The Justice Ministry itself, the very place where independence should be expected, is also run by a Royal appointment. As are all the courts, the Public Prosecutors Office, and even the Bahrain Chamber for Dispute Resolution (BCDR), established in partnership with the American Arbitration Association (AAA), the world’s largest provider of conflict management and dispute resolution services, is headed by Sheika Haya Ali Rashed Al Khalifa, a cousin of the King.

Here's the rub - the potential for conflicts of interest even in the supposedly 'normal' business world where Bahrain has determined to attain world recognition as a safe place to do business.

There is an upcoming court case to be heard next week, involving the notorious Ahsan Ali Syed, founder and chairman of Western Gulf Advisory (WGA), registered in Bahrain's capital Manama, and Australian businessman and property developer, Mr Keith Johnson. Johnson has alleged that he was fraudulently deceived into handing over some US$3.6 million in fees in 2010, to obtain loan funding by WGA which never eventuated. And despite clear clauses in WGA's Advisory Agreement stating that the fees were unconditionally refundable if a loan was not delivered, Johnson has been unable to retrieve any of his money, despite a ruling handed down by the BCDR in October 2011 ordering WGA to return the fees, and despite the fact that Ali himself in several widely published press interviews last year, promised to refund the fees.

Given that Indian born Ali Syed, who has left a trail of financial destruction and allegations of large-scale fraud around the world since 2008, has openly bragged of having close ties to the King and the Royal family, the obvious question of due process in the courts needs to be addressed - particularly as his defence attorney is none other than the King's very same cousin, chair of the BCDR, Sheika Haya Ali Rashed Al Khalifa herself. The apparent conflict of interest here is whether Johnson's day in court, and with the Public Prosecutor with whom he has lodged a criminal complaint, will be subjected to the nepotistic pressures of the Bahraini environment. Or will justice and transparent due process take place.

Johnson flies out to Bahrain this weekend, and will be accompanied by Australian lawyer Mr Andrew Bryce, who represents over 15 Australian Companies in the same predicament as Johnson, and who will be armed with a number of affidavits showing evidence of Ali Syed's up-front fee scam.

It is hoped that the Bahrainis realise that there is a lot more at stake for them than simply this one case of fraud. The enforcement department of the Swiss Financial Regulatory Authority, FINMA, which has an open file on WGA, will also be watching, as will the Serious Fraud Office of New Zealand. The prized international reputation of Bahrain as a safe place to do business will also be riding on this matter.

And if he has been paid up-front, then we wonder what else he has been paid. Obvious questions about money held in trust for Ali arise – is he holding what could be regarded as ‘stolen’ money. The whole matter of Weber acting for Ali in Spain and appearing at the recent Racing Santander board meeting as Ali’s proxy, raises serious questions about Weber’s judgment and involvement with Ali from way back. Weber served as a legal advisor to Credit Suisse before recently forming his Vogel Weber law firm in Zurich. So we wonder if and just how much Weber has been involved with Ali’s fraud. Given the benefit of that doubt, why would an apparently successful lawyer want to act for a criminal like Ali in his commercial dealings is a mystery. He should contact, among others, Hill and Knowlton (owed over $500,000), Global Consultants srl of Torino, Italy (Claudio Loiodice - $500,000), or even closer to home, Joss Windlin of Zwicky Windlin Law in Zurich, and numerous others who Ali cons into working for him and never pays the bill! If Weber would like some more names or contact details, we will be more than happy to provide them. Meantime, maybe he'd better re-think his involvement with Ali. Everyone, and by that we mean everyone, who has ever tried to do business with this little egomaniac cheat, has lost the lot! Weber will be no exception.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

We do know that complaints to authorities have been made in Bahrain and Switzerland, and we also know that Swiss money laundering monitors have been looking into WGA’s affairs also. The genesis of this investigation could also be the results of one of two current civil and criminal complaints – Keith Johnson’s matter in the Bahrain courts or the NZ firm McNabb’s matter being run in Switzerland. Or it could be at the Swiss or Bahraini authorities own instigation. In any event, the numerous other Australian victims are now preparing affidavits to hand over to Interpol to support and expand the current investigation. It doesn’t matter how smart Ali is or has been, when these affidavits get to Interpol, he will be in even more serious trouble than he is now. And unlike in Bahrain where he has allegedly been bribing officials in various places, he will not be able to buy himself out of this one.

This is not the first time WGA has been linked to Brazil. Wikifrauds was advised some months ago that there were a number of victims already existing in Brazil, but we are yet to identify them. If anyone has any information about any of these possible victims, please encourage them to contact us in confidence.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
ALI LOSES THE JET!   ALI's PERSONAL PRIDE AND JOY IS GONE. The jet, a Bombardier Challenger worth around US$10 million, has been repossessed. Things are getting so bad for Ali that we are starting to feel sorry for him - not.  A paranoid ego maniac like Ali will try to tell people that he is buying another jet - in fact it is believed that is exactly what his Australian lawyer John Mulally has told at least one client (victim) when asked about earlier rumours that Ali had sold the plane.

August 8, 2011: Victim exposes Ali’s delaying tactics. This is happening right now.

One of the more than a dozen victims has provided Wikifrauds with a series of emails over the last few weeks relating to his efforts to have his fees refunded. Wikifrauds can produce similar stories from a further ten clients who have equally been delayed in this same manner – the story is uniform and shows that Ali simply grabs the fees and then refuses to repay them when properly asked to do so.

Not only do Ali and his henchmen frustrate clients at every turn with all these false and unnecessary documents, but Ali lies about it to the press. In an interview to be published in Vanity Fair’s next Spanish edition, Ali told investigative reporter David Lopez that he was refunding this client’s fees. He also told other blatant lies, such as that he only had six clients in Australia, when we can clearly identify at least fourteen, eleven of who have joined together as a group to take appropriate action.

This client, who for commercially sensitive reasons wishes to remain un-named, has been trying to recover his up-front fees since before February this year, following the signing of the Advisory Agreement over a year ago in July 2010. All he ever signed was the Advisory Agreement, which clearly stated that if a loan was not proceeded with for any reason, the fees were fully refundable. There is no provision for any further agreements to be entered into if a refund is requested, but this client has been told to supply numerous affidavits and “deeds of release” to obtain his refund. One such requirement in fact was a newly invented “novation agreement” which if signed, would have taken away all the rights under the original advisory agreement, and left the client with no legal remedies whatsoever.

Wikifrauds has copies of all these ‘delaying’ documents, as well as the emails from WGA which tell the story themselves. It is quite clear that this client, who has done nothing but ask for his refund as per the agreement, is being left to hang out and dry by Ali, who has displayed no intention at all to refund the money, despite his advisory agreement clearly stating the undertaking to return fees as shown below. Wikifrauds has a copy of this client’s agreement signed by both the client and Omer Khan, CFO of WGA. This is the infamous and totally disregarded clause of the Advisory Agreement:

Clause 6.7 Absolute Undertaking to return Commitment Fees

                  The Advisory undertakes absolutely and unconditionally to return

                  The Commitment Fees and the Services Charges for Insurance to the  

                  Company promptly and without any deduction whatever if the Loan Facility

                  is not provided to the Company or if this Agreement is terminated before the 

                  Loan Facility is provided to the Company. This clause is paramount and 

                  applies notwithstanding anything else in this Agreement.

The emails available here are pasted from the originals, the only alterations are the replacement of the client’s name at his request. We have replaced the client’s real name with “Mr Smith”. We have even left spelling mistakes untouched. The really  explosive emails are the last two - one in which Ashish Gupta stated that the client's refund had been  processed, and another almost imediately afterwards trying to recall the earlier email.  Obviously a furious Ali, caught in the lies,  has blasted Ashish for sending the first email stating that the refund had been processed, when quite clearly it had not been.

Wikifrauds was first alerted by this client on February 16 2011, only a few days after first publishing the Website. The very first email to us is pasted below, and tells a very disturbing story:

Dear Sir / Madam,
 
I have read through your web page dedicated to WGA and what you describe in terms of process and culture of dealing with genuine companies either corporate or privately owned is 100% correct. You are accurate with the upfront funding amounts for both Loan Registration, Due Diligence and Insurance however you have omitted one component of the process which is where the larger sums of money come in to play and this is Financial Gurantee Insurance. This is offered once the loan is rejected and is 3.6% of the loan amount. WGA will say that there will be a 99% chance of funding if the FGI monies are paid up front. WGA will not provide any details in relation to the FGI policy until it is in place and paid for so no comparison can be made with other underwriters and for those seeking to lend effectively have no idea what they are even signing up for. There is no option to seek a Letter of Offer subject to FGI monies being deposited as it is WGA policy to get the money upfront.
 
The brokers they use as a vehicle for introduction I believe get a spotters fee and if the someone like my self struggles to fund the Due Diligence Fee and Loan Registration Fee they will put in in contact with a broker who can help. In my instance the broker wanted A$5k up front in order to source a loan based at 12% p.a and after paying that fee told us it had failed however there was another lender prepared to fund at 82% p.a interest. This broker also claimed to know WGA and that 100% of applicants had recieved funding which is nothing short of a lie and once can only assume he too is in on the scam.
 
I need to remain tight lipped about our dealings as we have monies due back to us which cant be jeopardised. I look forward to reading further installments.   

Regards
”MR SMITH”  . . . real name withheld.  Read all the emails over the last week or so.

August 12 Update: No more emails from WGA to this client since we published this matter. The only contact since then was a phone call to the client from Gupta asking the client for some patience while they processed the refund - a total contradiction to the previous emails stating they had already done so. Patience! How much patience can one person have after the endless lies and delays heading towards a year!

August 16 Update: Still no more emails to the client, and no phone calls. It seems that Syed and Gupta and all the other thieves are not happy that this correspondence has been published. Particularly the lie from Gupta that the transfer had been done and they were just waiting for the bank advice to send to the client. Simple explanation - they lied again. They never stop telling lies, none of them! Pure evil filthy liars.

ASHISH GONE TOO?
September 13, 2011: One of WGA's scammed Australian victims informed us today that after many days of trying to get Ashish Gupta on the phone, WGA finally answered their telephone and a woman, whose voice was unfamiliar, said that Ashish wasn't in. On being asked when he would be in the office, the woman finally said he no longer worked there. The client then asked to speak to Ali himself, who has been avoiding his calls also. He was told that Ali was not in the office either. He left the usual message to have his call returned, but does not expect that Ali will even be polite enough to do that. This is the same client who was earlier told by Ashish that his loan had been processed by the bank. The same client Ali told Vanity Fair journalist David Lopez that his fees would be refunded.

August 29, 2011: It seems that the latest person assigned by Ali to fend-off clients looking for refunds, has also fallen foul of his paranoid master. Emails sent over the last few days (see below) have been ‘bounced’ back to the sender, our “Mr Smith”, and the reason is that the email address for Ashish has been deleted by WGA themselves. Telephone calls by the client to WGA last week were answered by a female staffer who told the client that Ashish was ‘on leave.’ HERE'S THE EMAIL TO WIKIFRAUDS YESTERDAY:
"Ashish not in the office again having been out of the office last week and there is no indication when he will be back in the office. Now his email is bouncing per the message below. 
Regards"
From: postmaster@wga.net
To: Smith@hotmail.com
Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2011 13:28:40 +0300
Subject: Undeliverable: FW: SMITH - PAYMENT UPDATE
Delivery has failed to these recipients or groups:
Ashish WGA (ashish@westerngulfadvisory.com)
The e-mail address you entered couldn't be found. Please check the recipient's e-mail address and try to resend the message. If the problem continues, please contact your helpdesk.
Diagnostic information for administrators:
Generating server: wga.net
ashish@westerngulfadvisory.com
#550 5.1.1 RESOLVER.ADR.RecipNotFound; not found ##
Original message headers:

--Forwarded Message Attachment--
From: Smith@hotmail.com
To: ashish@westerngulfadvisory.com
CC: ali@westerngulfadvisory.com; arun@westerngulfadvisory.com
Subject: FW: SMITH - PAYMENT UPDATE
Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2011 20:55:37 +1030

Resent Resent

Regards
”Smith”

From: smith@hotmail.com
To: ashish@westerngulfadvisory.com
CC: arun@westerngulfadvisory.com; ali@westerngulfadvisory.com
Subject: SMITH - PAYMENT UPDATE
Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2011 20:53:52 +1030

Dear Ashish,
Can you please update what is happening with our payment. 
Regards

  ALI, YOU THIEF,  . . . THIS MAN JUST WANTS HIS MONEY RETURNED LIKE YOU HAVE PROMISED!  AND JUST LIKE YOU TOLD DAVID LOPEZ YOU WOULD DO!________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sent from my iPhone
Begin forwarded message:
From: "Keith Johnson" <keith.johnson@jpg.net.au<mailto:keith.johnson@jpg.net.au>>
To: "Zana Mills" <zana.mills@jpg.net.au<mailto:zana.mills@jpg.net.au>>
Subject: Fwd: BCDR Case 16/2011
Don't. Know if u got this it come 2 my hunch mail thur nite just saw it
Sent from my iPhone
Begin forwarded message:

From: "Keith Johnson" <keith.johnson@jpg.net.au>
Subject: Fwd: BCDR Case 16/2011
Begin forwarded message:

From: "Nezar Raees" <nraees@nezarraees.com>
To: "Keith Johnson"
Subject: BCDR Case 16/2011

Dear Mr Johnson,
I trust this email finds you well.
I note that we have successfully obtained the following orders against Western Gulf Advisory today:

-          Attachment order on all properties registered in Bahrain in the name of WGA;
-          Attachment order on all shares owned by WGA in any other company in Bahrain (including publicly listed companies).
-          Freezing order on all bank accounts to the extent of the amounts claimed.

The court did not grant us the traveling ban as there were no claims made against Ehsan Ali Syed in the proceedings.

With the above injunctions in place, WGA will find it impossible to deal with its bank accounts and will note be able to sell or deal in any shares it owns in any company in Bahrain (including any dividends relating thereto).

Kind regards,
[bg temp btm.jpg]<http://www.nezarraees.com/>__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Even if it is a half truth, then what does this signal to all those companies in Australia who are being stalled in getting their fees refunded? Is the bank telling Ali he hasn’t the permission of the real owners of any money to make any drawdowns, or is Credit Suisse putting the squeeze on Ali also in the wake of the Cantabrian Government calling up their bank guarantee last week.

The wheels have truly fallen off the WGA cart, and it’s skidding in the dust on its axles and grinding to a complete stop.

 See: Eldiariomontanes report. Interesting that the fans now jeer Ali, and his entourage has shrunk - no more hangers-on, and no bodyguard - he can't afford them any more. All the classic and obvious signs of austerity that accompany one running out of money.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Als u denkt over het aanvragen van een lening van dit bedrijf, denkopnieuw. Over de hele wereld maar vooral in Australië, zijn ertientallen middelgrote bedrijven die miljoenen mensen in deup-front kosten verloren aan deze frauduleuze bedrijf. Dus als uoverweegt WGA als een bron van fondsen, met het doen van uwdue diligence op de vennootschap, ga dan naar deze site voor een volledig en up-to-date dossier over een van 's werelds grootstemulti-miljoen dollar oplichting nog steeds actief. Een snel bezoekaan wikifrauds.net zal je voorzien van alle redenen om ze tevermijden, de hele geschiedenis, en alle smerige feiten van dezeoplichterij. Deze site zal u toelaten om de site-eigenaar die op hun beurt bieden u de namen van de WGA-client bedrijven in Australië, die miljoenen hebben verloren contact. (Het is momenteel geraamd dat Australische bedrijven hebben overhandigd ergenstussen de $ 40 en $ 60 miljoen voor leningen die nog nooiteventuated.) Je zal zelfs worden voorzien van de namen van desamenzweerders in Australië, met inbegrip van een high-profileSydney Advocaat. Deze informatie bespaart u honderdenduizenden dollars verdwijnen voor eeuwig in de handen van eenarrogante kleine bedrieger in Ashan Ali Syed (boven links) en zijnin staat luitenant, CFO Omer Khan. Twee van de meest getalenteerde leugenaars en fraudeurs van de laatste tien jaar.

• How do you explain leaving the UK in 2006 with a trail of debt and unpaid fines, and now you have a private jet, a Spanish football club, and homes in Bahrain, Switzerland, and The Bahamas, and claim to have $12 billion!
• Where did all this money suddenly come from?
• Of the Australian deals that were published at various times during 2010, both in the press and on earlier versions of your own website up to February this year where you claim they were funded, how many have actually been settled?
• Of these publicly announced deals, how many have received their fees and costs back in full, and how much money from these companies are you still holding and why?
• How do you explain that the much publicised deal with Cubbie Station was only being held up by the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) in Australia, when in fact we now have information in the Australian press that the deal was cancelled and Cubbie are still waiting on a refund of over $2 Million.
• How do you explain that despite promising Keith Johnson that he would receive his refund, he is still waiting for $3.26M
• How do you explain that with a loan approval given to Mr Johnson in writing, you now claim he was never approved. If he wasn't approved, then why did he not receive a full refund of his fees under clause 6.7 of your advisory agreement (see below) signed back in September 2010. The refund clause 6.7 of the agreement clearly states a prompt refund of fees. Is six months and still no refund your idea of "prompt"?
• After repeatedly advising Mr Johnson that his fees were to be refunded, do you understand the reasons why in desperation, Mr Johnson sought the assistance of the press by bringing your  action to the public's attention?
• Are you now suing Mr Johnson as a way to avoid repaying his fees?
• Wikifrauds knows (and so do the police authorities in Australia) from the Victims Forum of a large number of deals in similar situations - no loans settled and no refunds made despite individual promises made by you and Omer Khan that their money would be returned. Exactly when do you intend to refund this money?
• Are you prepared to publicly release other Australian 'clients' from their punitive non-disclosure agreements, without threatening loss of their fees, so that they can be safely named and listed in the Australian press and their details published?
• If you have nothing to hide, why not allow these people to detail their frustration.
• As your Advisory Agreement contains no mention of any 'release' agreements or any other agreements, why do you insist that further agreements be signed as a condition precedent to the refund of fees? Why not simply refund fees "promptly and without deduction whatever" when requested to do so by any client? And when such further and totally unnecessary agreements are signed, why are the fees still not refunded "promptly"?

1. "WGA rejected Johnson's loan request." 
2. " . . . the fees will be returned to Johnson as soon as some paperwork is completed."

1. WGA approved the loan request on October 26, 2010. See Approval letter.
   
2. All paperwork requested to be completed by WGA to enable the loan fees refund was completed and sent to WGA, as acknowledged in a letter from WGA's Sydney lawyer, John Mulally, on March 18, which states: 

Dear Sir
Western Gulf Advisory and Johnson Property Group
I am instructed to write to you by Western Gulf Advisory in relation to the fee refund.

Western Gulf Advisory instructs me that it had given final instructions for the fee refund but had not received the confirmation, before the current events in Bahrain compelled the closure of all business offices, including the office of Western Gulf Advisory, and the banks in Bahrain.

I am further instructed that as soon as Western Gulf Advisory is able to open its office and resume its normal business operations and receives the confirmation, it will let me know that so that I can, in turn, inform you.

Yours faithfully
John Mulally and Associates. (The letter is signed by John Mulally himself)  See original.

Quite clearly, the troubles in Bahrain have subsided now and business is back to normal. Ali's office is open, and so are the banks. They have both been open for over ten days. Wkifrauds has seen very recent correspondence from WGA which shows that their office is certainly open.

What is clear is that Serepisos is desperate to remain in control of what is virtually a winding-up of his affairs. In yet another ridiculous statement yesterday, Serepisos said a $100m loan he has arranged from Western Gulf Advisory, a Bahrain-based lender which has been accused of fleecing investors in Australia, would still come through.''I personally still think it's going to come through, and it'll come through sooner than people believe. That's my opinion. I'm adamant it is.''

Serepisos’s broker Daniel Hunt, who introduced him to Ali Syed’s WGA, is at odds with Serepisos and has advised that the property developer is just saying this to “keep his people at a distance while he is sorting his mess out”. It must be obvious to Serepisos and his creditors that what he is now saying is pure wishful fiction. After all, he has been spruiking the same line for the last seven months. The loan is always just around the corner, but it never comes. And who would know better than Hunt. He also brokered the McNabb deal and the Revolution Productions deal for the Russian entrepreneurs Adyl Khidirbekov and Sergei Sonkin. Both deals failed to settle, and both clients have been unsuccessful in obtaining a refund of their fees, even with Hunt's assistance. Hunt is still being paid as an adviser to Serepisos. That being the case, how does he explain to Serepisos that his other clients can't get their money back and didn't get their loans settled. How can he possibly support Serepisos in his continuing belief in Ali?  Maybe Hunt just wants to stay on the payroll as long as possible, until either Serepisos runs out of money, or runs out of patience with his financial adviser when it finally dawns on him that the advice has cost him well over a million dollars he can't afford.