[Editorial] Self-Described Advanfort "Billionaire" May Not Be

Published Mar 10, 2014 4:02 PM by The Maritime Executive

Written by John A C Cartner

Samir Farajallah is said to live in a tackily-decorated apartment in Dubai. It is the kind of apartment with many pieces of furniture pushed back against the walls. Nice view; poor taste. Farajallah describes himself as a “billionaire.” He asserts that he got his money from running conferences. Good pay if you can get it. Sources who have worked with him say he is prone to temper tantrums when he does not get his way. This must be a continuous state nowadays.

Farajallah is the owner of Advanfort. His son, Amad, is his factotum. This company has been accused by the Indian government of arms running. Some 35 of its seagoing staff are under arrest and his pompously-named SEAMEN GUARD OHIO is detained indefinitely . Samir Farajallah has done little or nothing to assist them or anyone else. Sources say that he gave the problem to son Amad to sort out. These same sources say that junior messed up. It appears that the senior Farajallah tastes in business are similar to his tastes in home décor.

Other sources confirm that Samir has paid few wages and appears to be on the edge of abandoning his detained employees to the tender hands of the Indian prosecutors. Still other sources say that vendors are owed substantial sums by Farajallah et fil. These debts include legal fees, supplies, officer and staff pay for those has laid off and all the bills coming with contracts necessary for running a pseudo-navy dealing with the gray world of providing armed guards to owners for the stated effect of suppressing pirates. Owners are not hiring or paying waiting for the likely failure of the operation.

The Advanfort model is looking more and more like a house of cards under which Mr. Farajallah & son, aka Advanfort, live. Sources confirm that he has scurried crablike his operations to the Philippine Islands. So it seems he is running and will continue to do so until cornered and made to pay. Upstanding man. People in jail. People not paid. All apparently, say other sources, because he believed to could sway the Indian government with hand-wringing and cheap press releases, rather than hiring counsel timely from a reputable firm to deal with the matters which he faced.

Advanfort is circling the drain and it appears that Mr Farajallah may not be able to avoid being sucked down with it. Now it seems that a 1200-page charge sheet has been filed by the government of India against Advanfort and anyone connected with it including Mr. Farajallah and plucky Amad. So at this writing the cards on the upper layers are falling fast and furious.

There is no tragedy here. Mr. Farajallah is a bit player with pretensions on the world stage which he clearly does not understand. Another temper tantrum is unlikely to save the day.

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