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29 March 2024

Court given evidence that prime accused is dead

Published
By Eman Al Baik

 
The death certificate of SR, the prime accused in the Nakheel Island Dh22m bribe case, has been submitted to the Dubai Criminal Court by the defence lawyer.

The accused committed suicide on the day he was given bail by the Dubai Criminal Court on July 7.

The court has adjourned the case to October 13, for receiving a statement from the Dubai Residency and Foreign Affairs Department regarding the affirmative witnesses who were supposed to attend the hearing but were not reached by the prosecution.

The three witnesses, who all have left their jobs at Nakheel are: Manal Shaheen, UAE national and former CEO; Jan Antonija, South African former legal advisor, and Ossa Aqqad, former finance manager.
 
In July, the court was to give a verdict, but the jury had decided to reconvene to hear more prosecution witnesses. So it decided to bail the prime accused SR, 31, former sales consultant at Nakheel who was accused of causing the company to lose about Dh11m. He reportedly rented a room in a hotel and jumped to the street.

The court gave bail to SR after his passport and his guarantor’s passport were submitted to the authorities. SR also had to commit to a pledge of paying Dh6m should he violate the terms of the guarantee.

The other five including SR’s father were accused with criminal participation and paying bribes. LS, 59, Canadian woman, and BS, British, were accused of offering Dh16.668m bribe to SR for booking them five islands in a project In Dubai.

AS, Bangladeshi was accused of offering SR Dh2.7m for booking three islands. SM, Russian, was accused of offering Dh2.4m bribe for booking two islands.

SR and other accused have only filled reservation forms where the names of the buyers were not mentioned and against which 15 per cent of the value, down payment, should have been paid.
The accused failed to conclude the necessary “expression of interest” deal where the name of the buyer(s) must be mentioned.

RS, the father of SR, was accused of abetting his son in the crime by opening a bank account and giving his son the authority to manage it with his knowledge of receiving bribes.

LS is out on bail as well, while other accused are at large.

In an earlier hearing the defence lawyer asked the court to acquit the accused due to the lack of sufficient evidence for the bribe accusations.