Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, CEO of Dubai’s DP World, who unsuccessfully sought to build a seaport in Badagry, Lagos, has resigned after Jeffrey Epstein emails showed they both exchanged messages with the Emirati recommending that the paedophile try out a Japanese spa massage where special masseuses offered services like “face sitting” and “ejaculation by hand massage”.

DP World issued a statement on Friday announcing new appointments, placing Essa Kazim as the chair of the board of directors and Yuvraj Narayan as CEO, two positions previously held by Mr Sulayem.

The company “affirmed that the new appointments support its strategy for sustainable growth and reinforce its role in strengthening global supply chains”.

The reputation of DP World, Dubai’s largest seaport operator, took a nosedive since the Epstein files became public, revealing the professional, friendly and lewd email exchanges between the duo.

Files released by the U.S. Justice Department showed that Mr Sulayem was named at least 4,000 times in email correspondence with Mr Epstein, who referred to him as a “close personal friend” and “one of his trusted friends”.

Although the emails did not accuse Mr Sulayem of wrongdoing, businesses like British International Investment and Canada’s La Caisse had begun to cut ties with DP World, hounding the Dubai company to “shed light” on Mr Sulayem’s relationship with the notorious sex offender “and take the necessary action”.

The blowback was believed to have prompted DP World to announce a new chairman in a statement on Friday that conspicuously did not mention Mr Sulayem’s name.

The Emirati, who until Friday had been CEO of DP World since 2017 and chair of the board in 2007, wrote to Jide Zeitlin, a Nigerian and former Goldman Sachs partner, to discuss building a seaport in Badagry.

“Dear Jide, Jeffrey introduced us a while ago. We are very interested in Nigeria. The two locations available are Badagry and Lekki, we prefer Badagry because the infrastructure is better,” Mr Sulayem wrote to the Nigerian Wall Street investor in June 2018. Mr Zeitlin had earlier exchanged emails with Nigerian former trade minister and Pentecostal ‘preacher’ Okey Enelamah. Mr Zeitlin also appeared to have introduced Messrs Enelamah and Sulayem by way of Mr Epstein, reports said.

Mr Enelamah, whose ties to Mr Epstein were reported last week by Peoples Gazette, has maintained no wrongdoing in the controversy.

In other email exchanges, Mr Sulayem recommended a Tokyo-based spa to the paedophile with a flyer that showed masseuses offering special services like testicle, hip, and nipple massage, facesitting, and ejaculation by hand massage. The prices attracted extra rates based on the level of sex appeal of the masseuse.

Mr Sulayem, in a 2013 email, justified his friendship with non-Muslims, asserting that the Quran allowed Muslim men to marry Christians and Jews. 

“So it doesn’t make sense that the Quran will say you can marry them but can’t be friends to them?” he pointed out to Mr Epstein, who called him one of his “most trusted friends” in return.

“All I know for sure, is that you are one of my most trusted friends in every sense of the word, you have never let me down, not once, not half of once,” Mr Epstein wrote, heaping accolades on Mr Sulayem.

Mr Sulayem described his sexual experience with a Russian girl as the “best sex I ever had” in a September 2015 email to Mr Epstein.

The correspondence has now caused DP World to sever ties with Mr Sulayem, who has been the chair of its board for nearly two decades.

La Caisse, which has invested at least $5 billion into DP World, told CNBC that it was “important to distinguish the company, DP World, from the individual, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, who is the focus of the current situation”.

“On that point, we have made it clear to the company that we expect it to shed light on the situation and take the necessary actions,” CNBC cited the second-largest Canadian pension fund as saying.