Court defers Deyaar case as testifiers fail to appear

Hearings in a case of financial irregularities at Deyaar Real Estate Company were postponed to August 18 by the Dubai Criminal Court yesterday, after the defence witnesses failed to appear. The three defendants are UAE national SA, a former member of Deyaar's board and former chief executive officer of Dubai Islamic Bank, UAE national businessman AJ, and Pakistani national AK. Only SA was produced in court, while the other two remain in custody. Lawyers representing Deyaar and the Dubai Government asked for the names of defence witnesses whose testimonies were demanded by SA's lawyer. The defence, however, advocating its stand said the witnesses were probably on annual holidays and were outside the country. The Public Prosecution has charged SA with receiving bribes from the second defendant, AJ, in violation of the terms of his job. Earlier, the court heard the testimony of Dubai audit expert Mohammed Mustafa Hussein, land trader Abdul Rahim Al Zarouni and Deyaar employee Saeed Essa. Hussein said he had reviewed the company's accounts and found financial violations and gaps. On September 25, 2007, Deyaar had purchased a piece of land for Dh415 million with the approval of SA. Records showed the same land had been bought by the seller just two days earlier for Dh300m. It was found suspicious that the land appreciated Dh115m within two days. When this was checked with ZS, Deyaar's former CEO, who remains in custody, said SA was the person who had arranged the deal and he was the company's board member in charge of sales and buying operations. Hussein said when the land trader was questioned he said he had a 50 per cent partnership in the deal with businessman AJ. A search warrant against AJ's company was issued and the firm's records showed that SA had received Dh11.7m in three cheques, which coincided with Deyaar's purchase of the land at inflated price. Records also revealed an undated loan contract between the first and second defendants to the effect that the former, as a chief executive officer of DIB, granted the latter Dh16m loan. Keep up with the latest business news from the region with the Emirates Business 24|7 daily newsletter. To subscribe to the newsletter, please click here .