Commander of the Order of the British Empire Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak[1] (Arabic: خلدون المبارك; born 1 December 1975)[2][3][4] is an Emirati government official and business leader.
Al Mubarak has interests in mining projects in South America, specifically in Colombia, as he directs the state-owned Mubadala Investment Group, the company that owns Minesa, a company created in 2013 to obtain the exploitation license, from the Colombian government, to extract gold from the Páramo de Santurbán, Soto Norte province, Santander department, with reserves calculated in the subsoil of approximately 9 million ounces.
There has been fierce opposition from environmentalists and political leaders in the region due to the threat posed by the contamination of the water reserve that nourishes more than 4 million inhabitants, a product of possible mismanagement that Minesa gives to the cyanide and mercury residues necessary to extract the gold as well as the destruction of the páramo ecosystem, becoming even a matter of national and international interest.
[18] However, the investment made in the country during the 2010s, seeking the favor of the government and productive sectors of the country in favor of the exploitation of the páramo, is being put at risk as Minesa's request is filed by the National Environmental Licensing Authority (ANLA), declaring deficient the Environmental Impact Study in the area made by the mining company.
[29] He has been characterized as "one of the royal family's most trusted advisers" and having "a close relationship with [His Highness the President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
[42] Within the UAE, Mubarak is considered to be one of the key investors, and plays a major role in the economic diversity plan to move away from oil and put more focus into aerospace, manufacturing and utilities.
[22] Al Mubarak is chairman of the advisory board for the Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit (GMIS), which is a joint initiative by the UAE Ministry of Economy and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).
In early September 2008, and after negotiations led by Dubai-born businessman Sulaiman Al-Fahim[53] on behalf of the Abu Dhabi side, the owners of English Premier League football club Manchester City, including chairman Thaksin Shinawatra, agreed to sell the entirety of their shares to Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi.
[65] A decade after the UAE acquired Manchester City, documents by Football Leaks revealed that the Abu Dhabi owner and chairman together circumvented the Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations, which were introduced by UEFA.
Mansour bin Zayed and Khaldoon Al Mubarak were essentially alleged by rights groups of attempting to “sportswash” the “deeply tarnished image” of their country by funneling money into the club.
[66] In 2018, a report by German magazine Der Spiegel, based on leaked internal emails and documents, alleged that Sheikh Mansour's Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG) financed the sponsorship payments himself.
In order to escape the FFP rules, direct money from Emirati owners was wired to sponsor companies based in UAE, including Etihad Airways and Aabar Investment, which was then transferred into the club.
[68] The Emirati owners created a "closed payment loop", where they set up a shell company, Fordham Sports Management, to pay players for their image rights.
[74] But, in July 2020, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) lifted the ban and reduced the fine to €10 million, stating that majority of the violations were "either not established or time-barred".
[68][77] In February 2023, Manchester City was alleged by the Premier League, which had concluded a four-year long investigation, of contravening more than 100 regulations on various occasions, most of which relating to finances.
The league said City had provided misleading information about their finances for a nine-year period under Al Mubarak and Sheikh Mansour, with an independent commission to review the case.