Ahmed Al-Rumaihi

Appointment as head of Qatar Investments

In May of 2016, Al-Rumaihi was put in charge of a new internal division of Qatar Investment Authority known as Qatar Investments. The creation of this unit was one of the biggest actions taken by QIA since December 2014, when Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Thani was appointed Chief Executive Officer. Arabian Business magazine labeled it a “major overhaul.”

The division holds about $100 billion dollars of QIA’s stakes in companies like Qatar National Bank and Qatar Airways. Sources with knowledge on the matter asked to remain anonymous when interviewed by Bloomberg “because the information is private”, but stated that “the fund is seeking to bring greater oversight by having a single person in charge.”

In May 2016, Bloomberg wrote:

“The changes at the QIA show that even the biggest sovereign wealth funds are having to shift focus as the slump in oil price brings to an end an era of vast wealth accumulation and buyouts of trophy assets around the globe.”

Based on a February 2016 report by the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute, “funds based in the oil-rich Persian Gulf, such as…Qatar Investment Authority, are facing the most ‘financial distress.”

Qatar Investment Authority

Al-Rumaihi likely works closely with Al-Thani, who has been Qatar Investment Authority’s CEO since 2014. Since Al-Thani took over, the fund has “embarked on an international acquisition spree”, including stake in iconic properties like the Empire State Building, along with other assets in New York City, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles. The fund stated in 2015 that it is “planning to invest $35 billion in the U.S. over the next five years as it opened an office in New York.”

QIA is the reportedly the largest foreign buyer of U.S. offices and is the “ninth-largest sovereign wealth fund in the world with more than $250 billion of assets.” It was founded in 2005 by the ruling Al-Thani family.

State-sponsored terrorism

Qatar has frequently come under due to its connections to extremism and for providing safe haven for terrorists living impunity-free in the country. High-ranking members within the Qatari government have been linked to members of Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. ABC News reported that 9/11 mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, allegedly evaded capture by U.S. authorities following the attacks with help from Al-Thani. Some years later, Abdulaziz bin Khalifa Al-Attiyah, cousin of Qatar’s foreign minister, was found to be closely associated with the “Wolf of Al-Qaeda”, or Umar Al-Qatari, who was designated a terrorist by the U.S. in 2014.

The Telegraph and other media outlets have also reported of Qatar’s alleged financing and training provided to ISIS. At the United States Institute of Peace event in March 2015, concerns about Qatari-funded ISIS training camps in Sudan were echoed by members of the global intelligence community.

Furthermore, Qatar has openly pledged millions of dollars to U.S.-designated terrorist organization, Hamas, and has been a sponsor to Al-Qaeda offshoot, the Al-Nusra Front, since 2013.

New York Qatari consulate controversy

In January 2014, Al-Rumaihi signed a contract on Qatar’s behalf to purchase a 20,500 square foot townhouse for an estimated $100 million in Manhattan’s Upper East Side, which would be converted into its consulate. Al-Rumaihi told real estate website The Real Deal “this is a perfect choice for our consulate, given its location, size, layout and infrastructure. Other than very minor cosmetic changes we may make, it is in move-in condition.”

Six months after agreeing to buy 19 E. 64th Street, and the day before scheduled closing of the transaction, Qatar backed out of the deal. Had the transaction gone through, it would have set a record for the most expensive New York City commercial townhome. The existing owners of the home, the prominent Wildenstein family, had originally built it in 1932 and lived there ever since.

Al-Rumaihi could not be reached for comment following the ordeal, and the reasons for reneging are unknown.

In January 2015, the Wildenstein family filed a lawsuit in federal court against Qatar, and in it reportedly cited that Al-Rumaihi was summoned back to the gulf state soon after signing the contract, and ultimately “the purchase of the property, and its record price, came under review in Doha, where there was a reluctance to be seen as profligate”. The country has coincidentally made a series of other bold investments throughout the U.S. over the past few years.

The Real Deal and other sources speculated that “Qatari government may [have been] looking to lower its profile, in the light of severe criticism heaped against it after a report concluded that hundreds of migrant construction workers have died due to poor working conditions in the oil-rich nation.”