JEDDAH — Jeddah Chapter Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (LCICAI) bid farewell to one of its most active Executive Committee member and Ex-Chairman Nadeem Bhamla, who left KSA after serving 17 years and has now moved to Dubai as Head of Finance of one of the ALJ Group of Companies.

The farewell ceremony followed the Technical Session of the Chapter on Accounting and Disclosure requirements relating to International Accounting Standards (IAS 19) on End of Service Benefits, by Simon Herborn of Milliman Consultants, an actuarial expert, which was attended by members of JCICAI and several well-known members of the Indian community.

The ceremony started with an exhaustive coverage by A. A. Merchant, who is 17 years elder to Bhamla, incidentally knew the latter when he was a school going kid. Nadeem, a chartered accountant from Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, is from a highly professional family with his father Abdul Karim also a Chartered Accountant and brother an IT expert.

Besides being a Fellow Chartered Accountant (FCA) from India he was also Certified Internal Auditor (CIA), Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Australia, CFE (Certified Fraud Examiner), Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) and Certified Risk and Information Control (CRIC).

Merchant said, “It seems like just like every day nowadays when people talk about farewell. But a farewell to Nadeem Bhamla was out of the blue, as we did not think of it at all until the news came few months back. It is hard to believe that the person, whom we meet almost on daily basis for the last 17 years, will part from us soon.

“Nadeem joined Ernst and Young in 2000 as an assurance consultant where he spent 4 years before he moving to Abdul Latif Jameel Company (sole distributors of Toyota cars in KSA) first as Deputy Internal Audit Manager and later promoted to Finance Director, in all he spent 14 years with them.

“Nadeem, a kind hearted, soft-spoken and professional to the core, is a totally dedicated person and always more than keen to handle additional portfolios, over and above assigned to him. Rather he was over-actively involved as he wanted the Chapter activities to run smoothly at all times whether it was arrangements for Annual Event or Technical Sessions or giving presentation on important topics or at career counseling events in schools – that indeed was the essence of Nadeem and his passion for the CA fraternity.”

In his farewell speech Nadeem was so overwhelmed by the praises showered on him that he was short of words to express his gratitude, nevertheless he felt his contribution to JCICAI activities and CA fraternity was his moral obligation as a chartered accountant and he did his best from day one to ensure JCICAI reached the position in which it presently is. He further expressed confidence that like him all other members of the JCICAI will continue to take it to new heights as after all it is team work which makes an organization reach its pinnacle.

JCICAI Executive Committee presented Nadeem Bhamla with a plaque of Holy Kaaba and a gift as appreciation and token of gratitude for the long and fruitful innings he has played in Jeddah as part of JCICAI and the CA fraternity. — SG