Emirati businessman acquitted in Deyaar case

A former member of the board of developer Deyaar was yesterday jailed for three years and fined Dh115.8 million for corruption.

In addition, SA was ordered to pay Dh101,000 to the company as well as Dh500 legal costs.

However, a second defendant – Emirati businessman AJ, who is at large – was acquitted.

A report from the Financial Audit Department, compiled by expert Mohammed Mustafa Hussein, contained details of a number of financial violations at Deyaar, Dubai Criminal Court heard.

The report said that on September 25, 2007, Deyaar bought a plot of land for Dh415m with the approval of SA – but the same plot had been purchased by the seller for Dh300m just two days earlier.

When Deyaar officials were asked about the transaction, former manager ZS said it was SA who had approved the purchase since he was in charge of developing the company's business through the purchase and sale of land.

Hussein testified that the seller, Abdul Rahim Al Zarouni, had said he had an equal partnership in the deal with AJ.

When AJ's company premises were searched and his accounts checked, it emerged that SA had received Dh11.7m, paid in three cheques, and the payments coincided with the purchase of the plot of land.

Company records also included an undated loan contract between SA and AJ under which the former, who was an executive director of Dubai Islamic Bank at the time, committed himself to giving the latter a Dh16m loan at an interest rate of eight per cent.

SA initially denied having any connection to the land deal and said the Dh11.7m was paid to him at the conclusion of a partnership agreement with AJ involving a plot of land and a farm.

But when SA was shown the results of the review of AJ's records, he withdrew his denial and said he had simply been a middleman in the deal.

Hussein said SA at first denied receiving a cheque because, as a member of the board, he was not supposed to accept cheques.

The court was told that the documents related to the land and farm partnership had been falsified to cover up SA's acquisition of the funds.

The documents were dated April 2008 though the deal took place in September 2007.

Al Zarouni told the court that SA was his friend and that he (Zarouni) had purchased the land for Dh300m from the Office of the Ruler of Dubai.

Saeed Obaid testified that he had moved to Deyaar from DIB and learned from colleague Abdul Nasser Al Khayat that Deyaar had bought a plot of land for Dh415m.

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