Abdulaziz bin Mohammed Al Rabban ( ar, محمد بن عبدالعزيز الربان) is a prominent Qatari businessman whose operations are based in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

Biography

Al Rabban was born and raised in Doha, and is currently one of the wealthiest men in

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

. Though he is not directly related to anyone in the royal family, he married the daughter of a member of the royal family. His roles in Qatar's business scene include being the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of Business Trading Company (BTC), the undersecretary and assistant director of the Amiri Protocol, and the former Vice President and honorary

board member A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organi ...

of the Al Sadd Sports Club in Doha. He was also a founder of the Qatari Investors Group, also referred to as the QSC Holding Company.

BTC

Abdulaziz bin Mohammed Al Rabban is the

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

and

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of BTC, a multi-million riyal holding and investment company that is mainly composed of project developers, focusing its efforts in real estate development projects. BTC was founded in

in 1997 to offer retail complexes in the region. The Landmark Shopping Mall, built in 2000, and the Villaggio Shopping Mall, built in 2006 are the company's two most prominent retail complexes that have affected Qatar's development. These two complexes partnered with the Qatari Ministry of Interior in the public service through the use of a personal Qatari identification card with the Department of Citizenship and travel documents in its complexes, as well as the opening of the department's branches in the malls. BTC boasts itself on its connections in the State of Qatar and in the

Gulf region The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The body ...

. It has partnered with JW Marriot to develop hotels in both Doha and Bahrain, and has joint ventures with, Azadea Group, Remza-BTC, Rash Fashion, Jawad, and Cineco on its retail projects.

Emir Diwan

Al Rabban was also involved in politics in Qatar through his work as the Diwan undersecretary of the Amiri Protocol. This protocol falls under one of the National Organizing Committees of the Second South Summit. The South Summit is the highest authority in the State of Qatar that is responsible for coordinating official meetings and conferences with the

Group of 77 The Group of 77 (G77) at the United Nations (UN) is a coalition of 134 developing countries, designed to promote its members' collective economic interests and create an enhanced joint negotiating capacity in the United Nations. There were 77 fou ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Controversies

Al Rabban was implicated in the 2012 Villaggio Mall Fire incident. This

mall Mall commonly refers to a: * Shopping mall * Strip mall * Pedestrian street * Esplanade Mall or MALL may also refer to: Places Shopping complexes * The Mall (Sofia) (Tsarigradsko Mall), Sofia, Bulgaria * The Mall, Patna, Patna, Bihar, India * M ...

fire occurred in the Villaggio Mall, killing 19 people, 13 of which were children. Though the fire started in the

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine given ...

store, it caused the most damage in Gympanzee daycare center. During the investigation of the incident, the

daycare Child care, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from two weeks of age to 18 years. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(r ...

center was discovered to be operating without acquiring the obligatory

licensing A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

as a nursery by the ministry of social affairs. Thus, the daycare did not meet the required safety conditions, and could have prevented the casualties had this not been the case. The investigation blamed the May 2012 fire and its damages on "lack of adherence to laws, systems and measures by all concerned parties to different degrees." The owners involved were charged in Qatar, and the

prosecution A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal trial ...

argued that the

defendant In court proceedings, a defendant is a person or object who is the party either accused of committing a crime in criminal prosecution or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a civil case. Terminology varies from one jurisdic ...

s did not comply with the necessary health and safety requirements, and that it was not licensed to operate. In 2013, Al Rabban was found guilty of

involuntary manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th c ...

due to

negligence Negligence (Lat. ''negligentia'') is a failure to exercise appropriate and/or ethical ruled care expected to be exercised amongst specified circumstances. The area of tort law known as ''negligence'' involves harm caused by failing to act as a ...

, and was sentenced to six years in prison. In his closing statement of the case, which lasted 5 hours, Al Rabban's

defense attorney A criminal defense lawyer is a lawyer (mostly barristers) specializing in the defense of individuals and companies charged with criminal activity. Some criminal defense lawyers are privately retained, while others are employed by the various ...

stated that his client did not have any ownership of the mall, despite his clear shareholder ties to the property. Additionally, the defense lawyers questioned why no one from the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

sports firm, Nike, was charged in the appeals hearing, as the fire originated from their store in the mall. Al Rabban was cleared of his charges later on, and the court deferred his sentence his company, the Qatari Company for Real Estate and Commercial Projects. In Al Rabban's retrial in April 2016, he did not appear in court, and his lawyer notified the court that his absence was due to him traveling. Another controversy that occurred in Al Rabban's Landmark complex was his decision to remove the

Christmas tree A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, or an artificial tree of similar appearance, associated with the celebration of Christmas. The custom was further developed in early modern ...

from the premise in 2008. It is unclear whether he threw it away or he chose not to feature it during the holiday season. Nonetheless, he received praise from many religious fundamentalists for his dedication to

Allah Allah (; ar, الله, translit=Allāh, ) is the common Arabic word for God. In the English language, the word generally refers to God in Islam. The word is thought to be derived by contraction from '' al- ilāh'', which means "the god", an ...

's work, and for 'getting rid of evil' in the country. Additionally, Al Rabban is married to the niece of Sheikh Thani bin Abdullah al-Thani, a member of Qatar's ruling family, the chairman and managing director of Ezdan Real Estate, the head of Tadawul Holding Group's board, and the founder of Qatari charity RAF. Al-Thani's $16 billion worth real estate firm is the largest in the

MENA MENA, an acronym in the English language, refers to a grouping of countries situated in and around the Middle East and North Africa. It is also known as WANA, SWANA, or NAWA, which alternatively refers to the Middle East as Western Asia (or a ...

region in regards to its market capitalization. His holding company has accumulated capital of over $7.5 billion. He is also a large contributor and leader for prominent

Islamic banks Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the mai ...

in Qatar, including the International Islamic Bank, Qatar Islamic Bank, and Masraf Al Rayan. Al Thani's charity, a semi-official Qatari government charity has been associated with

terrorist organizations A number of national governments and two international organizations have created lists of organizations that they designate as terrorist. The following list of designated terrorist groups lists groups designated as terrorist by current and fo ...

and terror financing. In one instance, Shafi Al Ajmi, a designated

Al Nusra Al-Nusra Front or Jabhat al-Nusra ( ar, جبهة النصرة لأهل الشام, Jabhat an-Nuṣrah li-Ahl ish-Sham lit. ''Front of the Supporters of the People of Syria/the Levant''), known as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham ( ar, جبهة فتح ال ...

terrorist financier who boasted of receiving funds to prepare

mujahedeen ''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' ( ar, مُجَاهِدِين, mujāhidīn), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' ( ar, مجاهد, mujāhid, strugglers or strivers or justice, right conduct, Godly rule, etc. doers of jihād), an Arabic term th ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, asked donors to send money to RAF charity.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rabban, Abdulaziz bin Mohammed Living people Qatari businesspeople People from Doha Year of birth missing (living people)