Dubai Criminal Court questions witness in Tamweel 2 case

A witness in a case of financial irregularities relating to real estate Islamic mortagage provider Tamweel was grilled for more than an hour yesterday by the Dubai Criminal Court.

The witness, Mohammed Noaman Iftikhar, is a financial manager of two companies owned by AS, the main defendant in the case, which the court has named as Tamweel 2.

The witness has been instructed to also appear in the next hearing of the court after the defence requested that he be present so that he could be questioned by the defence team.

The court adjourned the case to March 2 yesterday, ordering the witness to attend the next hearing.

Iftikhar said in his testimony that AS owned 99 per cent of the two companies in question, while his wife owned one per cent. AS was an official at Tamweel when he was running the two companies.

He denied that second defendant, AN, had any share in the two companies owned by AS. But there were joint investments between them, he said.

The case includes five defendants, including two former officials at Tamweel: Emirati AS, Tamweel's former CEO; Emirati AN, Tamweel's former commercial manager; Pakistani WA; Pakistani MY and Ukrainian RR. All of them attended yesterday's session.

The five were released after their passports, along with their sponsor's, were impounded. The Public Prosecution has accused them of embezzlement and bribery.

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