Criminal court delays Mizin case as auditor fails to turn up for hearing

The Dubai Criminal Court has adjourned hearings to August 16 in a case of financial fraud involving the former chief executive officer of Mizin, a real estate firm, and a Lebanese businessman. The court wanted to hear the testimony of the company's auditor, Mustafa Ramadan, who reportedly had a complete file on the case. Ramadan failed to attend yesterday's session. The two defendants – SH, Mizin's former UAE national CEO, and JH, a Lebanese businessman, attended along with their lawyers. They are both out on bail. There have been repeated adjournment in the case. Emirates Business has learnt that there were two reasons for this: The company auditor was not informed of being required in court to testify, and some members of the original team of judges were on summer vacation. In earlier hearings the court was told that the former Mizin CEO had allegedly exploited his position to give special facilities to the Lebanese businessman, who bought flats from Mizin. Dubai Police's investigation officer, Hamad Bousim, said SH had extended the payment settlement period for JH at no additional cost and sold old properties to him with discounts of up to 30 per cent when other buyers were given discounts of only 10 per cent. In addition, JH allegedly made only a 10 per cent down payment, even though the firm's policy stipulated that down payments should be no less than 15 per cent. JH allegedly bought 21 partments from Mizin with special facilities. And, in exchange, JH's firm, Nibras Company, allegedly paid the debts of Burqab Company, owned by SH. Jescom Company, owned by JH, allegedly paid some Dh1 million to a compnay called Burqab for doing no real work, and Nibras also allegedly carried out maintenance work free of charge on a house claimed to be belonging to SH's father. Bousim told the court that the Dh1m paid to Burqab covered the payment of a debt of SH's company, as well as its rent and telephone bills. Meanwhile, JH obtained special payment facilities from Mizin with the approval of SH. Mizin's sales manager said JH had bought seven plots of land and three buildings in Mizin's Remraam project. She said JH failed to honour the conditions of sale, but the usual penalties were not applied to him. She also told the court that JH had knowledge of the projects Mizin intended to offer for sale and attended a meeting about plans to sell projects, though attendance was supposedly restricted to company executives. JH had bought five plots earlier at a low price, she added. 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 .