The Quebec Pension Fund announced this Tuesday that it has decided to suspend agreements with the firm DP World. The second largest pension fund in Canada has decided to break its investment pacts with the firm after learning of alleged links between the executive director of the Dubai company, the Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayemand the now deceased financier involved in a sexual network Jeffrey Epstein. Specifically, Kentucky Republican Representative Thomas Massie named Emirati businessman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem as the individual to whom Jeffrey Epstein had sent an email about a “torture video”.
According to ‘Newsweek’, Epstein sent an email on April 24, 2009 that said: “Where are you? Are you okay? I loved the torture video.” The recipient’s email address and name have been removed. But Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the recipient was identified in file EFTA00666117, which names the “He” although he omitted the email address. Sulayem was a friend of Epstein, and Justice Department documents show that the two communicated about sexual experiences.
Los Epstein papers confirm that the Sultan Ahmed bin SulayemCEO and president of DP World, exchanged “intimate and unreserved messages” with Epstein for more than a decade and even after his prison sentence in 2008, on charges that included the prostitution of a minor, Bloomberg reports. Emails released by the US Department of Justice and others obtained by Bloomberg News last year point to Bin Sulayem. The emails show that the men exchanged business and political contacts, attempted to negotiate deals between themselves and made explicit references to sexual encounters. Bin Sulayem wrote to Epstein frequently to discuss his visits to his private island in the Caribbean and even provided assistance when Epstein was considering creating a private resort, according to the messages.
Bin Sulayem, born in 1955, is a manager from a wealthy family. He began working as a customs officer at the port of Dubai after graduating from university in the late 1970s and was appointed president of the Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA) by Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in 1985. As a manager, he was able to drive the growth of this free zone, which went from hosting 19 companies in 1985 to 7,500 in 2020. At the same time, he was appointed president of DP World (2007), a firm in the logistics sector specialized in port terminal management based in Dubai, and owned by the State of Dubai. According to the latest calculations, this company manages around 10% of global trade. It is the owner of Palletways, an express distribution company for palletized merchandise in Spain and Europe. Bin Sulayem is also involved in Seven Tides International, a real estate investment and development company in Dubai.
DP World is one of the largest container port operators in the world and has a strong relationship with Canada, with La Caisse being one of its main financial partners. The pension fund, worth C$496 billion (US$366 billion), has stakes in several DP assets, including 45% of the Canadian subsidiary. Therefore, the withdrawal of agreements with DP World has special relevance.
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