Dubai bribery case
In March 2009 it was reported that Sunland executive David Brown, an architect and middle eastern head of the company, had been placed under arrest in Dubai, had his passport confiscated, and was interrogated at least eight times due to allegations of bribery in relation to a 2007 property deal. Matthew Joyce and Marcus Lee, employees of Dubai-based development company Nakheel, were placed under arrest at the same time as the allegations involved Sunland paying Nakheel millions of dollars in consultancy fees. Sunland managing director Sahba Abedian denied that Sunland was implicated in the investigation, however concerns were expressed that people were being made scapegoats.[13] In May 2009 Sahba Abedian met with the Dubai prosecutor and advised that Sunland were going to launch legal proceedings in Australia which would require David Brown being able to travel to Australia to meet with lawyers regarding the case and Brown had his passport returned in July that year. Sunland later argued that Brown's passport being returned was unrelated and that it was only returned so he could attend his mothers birthday party, although he was unable to attend the party after returning to Australia.[14]
In 2009 Sunland accused Matthew Joyce and Marcus Lee of fraud alleging that Joyce, who was managing director of a Nakheel subsidiary, and Lee had conspired to trick the company into paying property developer Angus Reed $14 million before it could purchase a prime plot on the Dubai Waterfront. The case was heard in courts in both Dubai and Victoria.[15] James Packer had been a company director of Sunland but demanded the company be liquidated when the scandal came to light and quit the board and sold his stake in the company in August 2009,[16] John Leaver demanded that all company announcements require approval from the board[17] before retiring as director in 2010,[18] and Terry Jackman stood down as chairman of the company in 2011.[19] In 2010 Fairfax Media reported that Sunland had misled the ASX three times by claiming that Brown had never been investigated regarding the case.[20]
Sunland Executive David Brown initially claimed he had been approached by Angus Reed regarding the land plot, but in 2011 before the Victorian Supreme Court he clarified that he had approached Reed, and made a succession of admissions that claims he had made to the Dubai court regarding the case were incorrect,[21] but admitted he had not amended his claims in the Dubai court.[22] In June 2012, Sunland's case was dismissed in the Supreme Court of Victoria. The judge said that Sunland had failed to make proper disclosures,[23][24] and described the case as a "fabrication".[25] The judge also criticised David Brown for withholding a diary entry from the Dubai court, stating that "This note is very clear and it is just not plausible that Brown would have overlooked this note when preparing the material for the Dubai authorities,".[26]
In early 2013 Soheil Abedian denied that Sunland had made a claim against Marcus Lee prompting Lee's lawyer to comment "It's all well and good for them to say now they think he’s innocent but that's not what they said to authorities in Dubai,"[27] and former Prime Minister of Australia Malcolm Fraser criticised Abedian saying "If Sunland had nothing to fear, why won't their people go back to Dubai as they've been subpoenaed to do?", however Abedian responded to criticism by saying "Anybody who knows me, they will say that my whole being is about righteousness," .[28] Although Sunland denied pursuing a claim against Lee it pursued a lawsuit against Matthew Joyce with managing director Sahba Abedian saying "It is inevitable and unavoidable... I don't think one should compromise on one's values in life."[29] In April 2013 an injunction was filed against Fairfax Media and journalist Ben Butler who had been covering the case prompting a Sydney Morning Herald article to state: "The injunction against Fairfax and reporter Ben Butler is the latest in a string of cases where powerful business interests have taken legal action to restrain reporting."[30]
In May 2013, Joyce and Reed were found guilty of defrauding Sunland by a Dubai court.[31] This decision was overturned in November 2013, and Joyce, Lee and Reed were acquitted.[32][33] Two months earlier, the Victorian Supreme Court judged that Sunland had run the case "for ulterior motive or in wilful disregard of the facts or clearly established law".[34] The specific ulterior motive named by the justice was that the case had been launched to recover the passport of Sunland Executive David Brown who was under suspicion of having bribed Dubai authorities.[35]
The Dubai legal battle ended in December 2013, when Sunland was ordered to pay $6.7 million in legal fees to Joyce and Reed.[36] The trial judge stated that Sunland's case was "simply implausible", that documents had been fabricated, that Sunland Executive David Brown was "unreliable", that Sunland founder Soheil Abedian was a "consistently uncooperative witness",[37] and that Sunland had failed to disclose that it was under investigation for bribery in Dubai noting he was forwarding his judgement to ASIC which had opened an investigation of Sunland in 2012. ASIC dropped inquiries in 2016 without reporting a reason and with no action taken. Sahba Abedian commented "We are pleased with the outcome, which reconfirms Sunland’s position over the course of the last number of years."[38]
Political donations
During the Dubai legal case Soheil Abedian personally donated $12,500 to the Liberal National Party shortly after Stuart Robert gave a speech to the Australian Parliament written by the companies lobbyist, Simone Holzapfel, and in addition over 2014 and 2015 Abedian and the Sunland Group donated at least $25,000 to the LNP, which caused the Australian Labor Party to describe it as a "cash for comment" deal, although Sunland denied receiving any benefit from its donations. A news report on the donation noted Abedian had also donated to the Labor Party in the past.[39] In 2016 further concerns were raised regarding Roberts links to Sunland due to his support for one of the companies construction projects on the Gold Coast after he admitted that he had used Queensland LNP fundraising body the Fadden Forum to secretly provide $60,000 to candidates in the 2016 Gold Coast Council election and that Sunland lobbyist Simone Holzapfel had donated $100,000 to the Fadden Forum. Holzapfel stated that the money was a personal donation and was not made on behalf of the Sunland Group.[40]
In October 2018 the Queensland State Government passed laws criminalizing property developers making political donations,[41] however in 2019 it was reported in Gold Coast Council minutes that while Soheil Abedian was a prohibited donor he had made donations to a charity which the Mayoress was a director of. A Gold Coast Council member also reported a possible conflict of interest in relation to the Sunland Group as Soheil Abedian had said to him "I hope at the next election it will be proven you do not deserve to sit on the chair you occupy."
Other
In 2011 the body corporate of Q1 Tower sued the Sunland Group due to defects and corrosion and the company fought the lawsuit arguing that it had not provided a guarantee the tower would be free from defects in its construction contract.[44]
In December 2019 Riaz Rezvani, the Housing Manager of the Sunland Group and son-in-law of founder Soheil Abedian,[45] allegedly assaulted Gold Coast businessman Jack Ray by punching him in the groin at a meeting which former Sunland director Terry Jackman was also present at with Jackman saying "I was absolutely amazed and thought it was an extraordinary thing to happen … disgraceful"[46]
In 2020 Sunland director Vahid Saberi acquired Sunland shares without advising the company and completing the required ASX paperwork, prompting the company secretary to distribute the company Securities Trading Policy to all directors.[47]
