No reason given for exit of Nasser al-Shaikh, after his recent removal as government finance head

One of Dubai's highest-profile business leaders has resigned from his post as chairman of developer Deyaar. The firm sent an email to the Dubai stock exchange yesterday saying that Nasser al-Shaikh had resigned but gave no reason for the move.

Last month, al-Shaikh was removed from his post as the director of the Dubai government's finance department. Again, no reason was given for his removal. The move left analysts bewildered as al-Shaikh was in the midst of addressing Dubai's $80bn of debts and distributing the first $10bn tranche of the $20bn loan Dubai has secured from the UAE government.

Deyaar, whose market value of $1.3bn makes it second only to Emaar Properties among Dubai developers, said recently that profit for the first quarter of 2009 had fallen to 55m dirhams ($15m), which was a 73% drop on 2008's figures. In the first quarter it also announced it was putting 25% of its schemes on hold.

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