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29 March 2024

Charge changed in Tamweel case

Charge changed in Tamweel case. (EB FILE)

Published
By Mohammed Elsidafy

One of the charges against defendants in the Dh46 million corruption case involving home loans lender Tamweel has been changed from breach of trust to harming the public finances, Dubai Criminal Court was told yesterday.

The court heard the testimony of Fares Masoud, Financial Manager of Bonyan. Tamweel signed a contract with the company that related to deals linked to alleged financial violations.

Masoud said Bonyan bought 215 plots of land from Sama Dubai, with Tamweel financing part of the deal. The agreement between Bonyan and Tamweel stipulated that the latter should pay 90 per cent of the deal's value to Sama Dubai, with the land as a guarantee.

He said Tamweel made profits of 10 per cent a year from the deal and this later went up to 40 per cent. Tamweel's profits reached Dh600m, while those of Bonyan totalled Dh200m.

The defendants are exTamweel CEO AS, 38, an Emirati, ex-Tamweel head of investment FK, 28, from Jordan, Bonyan's board chairman AA, 33, from Jordan, Tamweel commercial manager AH, 44, an Emirati, and an ex-executive director and board member at Tamweel, SA, 40, an Emirati. All five attended yesterday's session. Their lawyers, Sameer Jaafar and Hamdi Al Shewi, said the accused should not be regarded as public employees as they were not assigned the duties of public employees. They said public employees performed a public service, while the nature of the defendants' job had nothing to do with public service.

The court adjourned the case until January 31 so that testimony could be heard from a new prosecution witness, Mohammed Noaman.

 

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