Housing ‘Godfather’ leaves £50m misery

LEANING back in the sunshine outside a restaurant in Dubai and puffing on a huge cigar, Anthony Armstrong Emery was emphatic.

“I am not going to apologise for who I am or how I act,” he said, as he relaxed outside the Arabian Court at the five-star One&Only Royal Mirage hotel. “I’m not here to say I’ve done anything wrong.”

He said that he was merely seeking to clarify some unfortunate misunderstandings about a company he ran that had collapsed, leaving hundreds of British investors facing huge losses.

According to him, it had been “a successful company . . . a successful me. I’ll be very clear on that one.”