Conglomerate's son

Becoming two families' heir apparent

When my dad split the family's fortune with his cousin whom went on to found a separate real estate and retails empire, I was brought to the UAE amidst the construction of Dubai Festival City complex.

During my first week in our Dubai main house, a massive Aqiqah ceremony was held to officially introduce me.  Attendees were among the most powerful people of Persian Gulf and other parts of the world. What should have been done on the seventh day after my birth in 1990 was done in May 2000, without my mother's presence. At the age of 10, I witnessed a sheep slaughtered in my name. The hair that was shaved off my head at seven days old was now taken out. Its weight was announced so my father could declare a donation of equivalent diamond weight to each homeless shelter in the country.

Legally, my father was still unmarried. Yet, my mother's name was not disclosed and there was no talk of a coming wedding on that day. At the event, no reporters, cell phones, nor cameras were allowed. Bodyguards of attendees had to wait in the room leading to the banquet hall. Thus, my face, at 10 years old, was exposed only to the elite few. But as long as my father publicly acknowledged me, Damir Al Futtaim, as his son, then under the eyes of the laws and despite the discontents of relatives, I legally became his heir apparent. The UAE  birth certificate registered by my father from 10 years ago qualified me for a UAE citizenship. As people cheered for me, my father was pleased.

Shortly after the aqiqah, I was sent back to New York on my U.S. passport. Again, back to my regular uneventful life of a secret child.

My mother, after giving birth to me, could no longer be a model due to the scar from C-section. Instead, she went home to her parents, awaiting to claim her rightful position. I was not brought along.

In 1993, when the Gulfff Oil Middle East blending plant was opened in Jebel Ali, my mother was sent as the corporate's representative. Then, her face became known in the business world of UAE. In the years leading to my aqiqah ceremony, my parents discretely met on their business trips all over the world. Meanwhile, I only got to meet both of them once a year on my birthday at the secluded places they would send me to.

It wasn't till 2006 that my mother officially took over her parents' shares of Gulfff Oil LP. In September that year, my grandparents, along with 5 other high-profile passengers on a corporate jet, survived the wingtip collision with a commercial aircraft at 37,000 ft over the Amazons. 154 people on the commercial aircraft perished in the crash fire deep within the Amazon forest as the Brazilian air-traffic controllers took the international heat and the corporate jet pilots were detained for 2 months. Shaken by the brink of death, my grandparents decided to retire upon their release from the Brazilian police post witness investigation. So, at 40, my mom finally seized control of her long-intended fortune and of her life.

And I, at 16, became my mother's only heir after my U.S. birth certificate was authenticated with her real name and her alias, secretly. Just like that, another family's fortune was bestowed upon me. Still, at 16, my family registries were incomplete.

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***Author's notes:

- Aqiqah ceremony: an Islamic tradition of sacrificing an animal to celebrate the occasion of a child's birth, often done of the seventh day.