Dubai developers Cirrus and Kaizen disappear – Investors worried

original source Construction Week Online Dubai, 14 November 2009

Confusion has broken out over the whereabouts of international real estate firms Cirrus Developments and Kaizen Developments.

Both developers are responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars worth of developments in Dubai and across the region, including Cirrus’ Aquarius Gate in the Waterfront area, and Kaizen’s Equinox Residences at Palm Jebel Ali.

Websites for the companies are no longer active, while phone numbers listed on their brochures have not connected.

Cirrus Developments had been developing Celestial Heights – a mixed-use project of three towers, in the Downtown Jebel Ali master development, but the project is now being looked after by a firm called Catalyst Project Consultants, Construction Week has learned.

“Cirrus was part of phase one of Celestial Heights, then the owners appointed Catalyst,” Catalyst Project Consultants’ director Israr Ahmed told CW.

“Cirrus have downsized and moved offices, but they handed over all work related to the project over a two month period.”

Ahmed also said that Catalyst was “not at all” related to Cirrus Developments but it did have links to Kaizen Developments whose logo featured on early Celestial Heights marketing materials.

The last number he had for Cirrus could not be connected.

Dubai’s Real Estate Regulatory Agency (Rera) confirmed to CW that a developer by the name of Kaizen One Investment Limited was an approved developer, but the phone number it had registered for Kaizen now belongs to a general trading company.

Significantly, the registered website that Rera had for Kaizen One Investment Limited was www.cirrusdevelopments.com, which is now defunct.

Construction Week eventually managed to reach Cirrus Developments’ brokerage number where a receptionist said: “Due to the [financial] crisis, we have suspended the brokerage”, but insisted that despite not appearing on Rera’s list of approved developers, the development side of the company was still in operation.

Both public relations firms which represented Kaizen and Cirrus in the past confirmed that they were no longer their clients.

Kaizen Developments is unreachable.

Do you work for Kaizen or Cirrus? Have you invested in their projects or have you worked on their projects? Please contact constructionweek online

Dubai Prosecutors will hunt former senior executive of Istithmar World

Dubai, 05 November 2009
An Interpol Red Notice could be issued for the arrest and possible extradition of Chris Turner, who was sentenced in absentia to five years in jail for embezzling AED4.9 million ($1.3m), UAE daily The National reported on Thursday.

The former risk assessment manager for the investment arm of Dubai World was also ordered by Dubai Criminal Court to pay $2.7m in fines and restitution.

Turner, speaking to newswire Zawya Dow Jones from a location outside the UAE, said: “I’m innocent of the charges and I’m not in the country. I’m reviewing my legal options.”

“This is a matter for the appropriate authorities,” said a spokesman at Istithmar World in an emailed statement to the newswire.

But prosecutors in the UAE said they would hunt for him.

source Arabian Business here read the full article

Fraud in Dubai and the Gulf Region – Just the tip of the iceberg

source The National

It is more than a year since Dubai launched a highly publicised clampdown on corruption, which led to the arrest of several executives from some of the emirate’s top property developers and financial institutions.

But while Dubai grabbed the international headlines, it represented just the tip of the iceberg in a region that has been identified as a hot spot of corruption.

Kroll, an international risk consultancy, said last week the Middle East was the world’s only region to see a rise in fraud in the past year. It singled out corruption and bribery as the single largest threats.
“For seven out of 10 cases of fraud, it had the highest incidence of any region, including bribery and corruption,” Kroll said. Average financial losses from corruption doubled to US$11.5 million (Dh42.2m) this year from $5.6m last year, it said.

read more of this article….

UAE collect DNA from all Residents – DNA database set to start in a year

source The National

The UAE aims to start collecting genetic samples from residents within 12 months as part of its controversial DNA database project, the programme’s director said yesterday, making it the first country in the world to do so.

Dr Ahmed al Marzooqi, the director of the National DNA Database, also said the order for millions of people to allow lab technicians to collect samples of their DNA by swabbing their cheeks would probably be given as a security directive and not require the passage of new legislation.

“The first step is to set up the infrastructure and hire the lab technicians,” he said in an interview with The National.

“This should take us approximately one year.”

Then, he said, the UAE would start collecting DNA samples from the general public, beginning with juveniles.

“The aim is to eventually have a profile of the entire population,” said Dr Marzooqi, who is also the chairman of the DNA Working Group, made up of various police forces across the Emirates.

“Our goal is to sample one million per year, which could take as long as 10 years if you factor in the population growth.”

Some officials have suggested that the DNA programme may require new legislation, which would then need to be considered by the Federal National Council.

But Dr al Marzooqi said this might not be the case.

“We are not sure if this will go through the Federal National Council or not,” he said. “It could simply be decided as a security matter and not need the legislation of the FNC.”

The legislative route seems increasingly remote given that a new government department, the National DNA Database, has already been formed within the Ministry of Interior and collection kits ordered to help the police gather genetic material.

At present, only 5,000 DNA profiles are stored, all of convicted felons.

The notion of collecting DNA samples from non-criminals has raised ethical concerns about privacy protection.

In Britain, for example, such use of DNA was contested last year in the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled that Britain must purge non-criminal genetic material from its database.

The UAE has not accepted the jurisdiction of any such body.

Even attempting such a database – in which DNA is gathered from the entire population, even those who have never gone through the legal system – is basically unheard of, said Sir Alec Jeffreys, the British genetics pioneer who invented the DNA profiling system.

He expressed concern over the lack of legislation required for a national database.

“It will be interesting to see how this develops,” he said.

“How this works out will really set the scene for how other countries approach this problem. If it’s seen as a great success which the population and citizenry fully endorse, I think it will open the way for a lot of other countries going down this route.

“If it turns into a disaster for whatever reason, that will be the end of the story. You are the interesting experiment at this point.”

Dr al Marzooqi, who is also Interpol’s single Middle Eastern representative in its DNA Monitoring Expert Group, said he was aware of the project’s challenges.

“We are certain the pros will outweigh the cons,” he said. “The issue of privacy is just as important for us as it is important for the public. We will implement strict usage rules and will take secondary tests in court cases to verify the identity matches.”

Other nations could use information from the UAE’s data bank, but not access the material, he said. Treaties and other international agreements would dictate the specifics.

“If there is co-operation with the country seeking the DNA profile, we share this information through Interpol – only the DNA profile, and obviously not the sample,” he said.

Because each country may have its own database of DNA profiles, Dr al Marzooqi said, databases would not be merged with those of any other country.

“Not every country who asks will be given this information,” he said.

The database, he added, would be “instrumental in helping with unsolved crimes, identifying unknown bodies and will also be a great help in major disasters, either man-made or natural”.

Don`t kiss your girlfriend in a Dubai Taxi !

source GulfNews

Dubai: An Arab man is in police custody and could face deportation after being accused of kissing his girlfriend while they were both in a taxi in Dubai, Police told Gulf News.

A police source from Al Rifaa police station said that the Lebanese businessman working in Dubai, was arrested by Criminal and Investigation police officials recently while he was accompanying his Ukrainian girlfriend in a taxi.

The man – in his late thirties – is being detained at Al Rifa’a police station. He was later transferred to Al Aweer central jail.

The man said he was leaving a hotel in Dubai’s Al Rifaa area with his girlfriend. They were sitting next to each other in the taxi. “We took a taxi and I was sitting next to my girlfriend. I was leaning at her showing her a video clip on my mobile phone,” he said.

He said that after a few minutes the taxi was stopped by undercover police. “We were asked to leave the taxi. They asked me why I was kissing her in public. They said this is not allowed here,” he said.

The man said he and his girlfriend were arrested and taken to Al Rifa’a police station.

Police said that the man and his girlfriend have been arrested for committing an indecent gesture in public.

Al Fajer Properties – The former CEO of Al Fajer Properties Shahram Abdulla Zadeh was jailed in 2008 – Today 2009 President of Al Fajer Maktoum Hasher bin Juma Al Maktoum – A part of the Dynasty Zarooni Scandal ?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123457503562586691.html

DUBAI — Amid the movers and shakers of this glittering city, Shahram Abdullah Zadeh cut a wide swathe. He cruised around town in a white Bentley and dined with royalty as his company developed one of the emirate’s premier office complexes.

But last February, a phone call from Dubai’s state security effectively ended it all.

Hauled in and locked up for 60 days, Mr. Zadeh says he was interrogated about his role in Dubai’s freewheeling real-estate sector and his business relationship with the brother-in-law of Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. When released, Mr. Zadeh says he had been frozen out of the real-estate company he had helped start.

Mr. Zadeh’s experience, compiled though court and company documents, offers a rare window into the murky business world that helped transform this city from an empty coastline into a metropolis. It also may offer a cautionary tale for investors lured to the city, which bills itself as the modern face of a new Middle East. Dubai is one of seven semi-autonomous emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates.

The U.S. government and human-rights groups have long criticized the judicial system in the U.A.E for a lack of independence and oversight. In the good times, investors didn’t fret much about these shortcomings. Now, some of the same deals that helped build Dubai are coming undone — in particular, a tradition of off-the-book business partnerships between Emirati citizens and elite expatriates like Mr. Zadeh, who was born in Iran.

Mr. Zadeh claims his detention came after a business dispute with his partner at Al Fajer Properties, Sheikh Hasher bin Juma’a Al Maktoum and his son, Sheikh Maktoum bin Hasher al Maktoum. Both men are members of the extended family of Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Mr. Zadeh alleges the two men took control of the firm while he was in custody, according to a lawsuit he filed with Dubai’s public prosecution office last year.

Mr. Zadeh has not been charged with a crime. But for the past year, authorities have held onto his passport, making it impossible for him to travel or find work.

“I used to believe in the miracle of Dubai. But now I see it all as a mirage,” said Mr. Zadeh, 37. Sheikh Hasher denies any wrongdoing. He says he was not responsible for Mr. Zadeh’s jailing and that he removed him from the company because Dubai authorities said he had offered bribes, an allegation Mr. Zadeh denies.

“I don’t need to defend my reputation. He does,” Sheikh Hasher said in a telephone interview. “This man is crazy. He is a crook with a sweet tongue.”

Some of Mr. Zadeh’s claims are impossible to verify independently. His only copy of the real-estate partnership agreement is missing, and official company documents show the Sheikh Hasher as sole owner. Dubai’s security services, the public prosecutors’ office and the Dubai ruler’s court all either declined to comment or didn’t respond to repeated requests for comment.

Last fall, the Emirates’ Human Rights Association, a government body, wrote to authorities asking for an explanation about why Mr. Zadeh’s passport was being held. The group did not receive any response, according to his lawyers.

Mr. Zadeh grew up in Dubai, attending school with the children of some of the city’s top families. He managed his family’s hotel and retail holdings and decided to go into business himself in 2000. Real-estate development was off limits to foreigners, even longtime residents like himself. So, he turned to a common practice — a silent partnership with a U.A.E. citizen.

Typically, such partnerships involve an Emirati acquiring a business license and then granting his foreign partner management control. The foreigner either pays an annual fee to the Emirati or the two share profits. The terms are set forth in a parallel set of documents, separate from those submitted to the government. Such contracts are so common that courts here have upheld them in disputes, according to commercial lawyers here.

In 2004, an old friend of Mr. Zadeh’s father brokered an introduction with Sheikh Hasher. The sheikh owns Al Fajer Enterprises, a conglomerate that includes a large construction and contracting arm.

In affidavits filed with Dubai’s prosecution office, Mr. Zadeh contends that he and Sheikh Hasher verbally agreed to a partnership, signing a contract on Feb. 1, 2006. The partnership, Mr. Zadeh says, established the two men as co-owners of Al Fajer Properties. The men would split profits equally and would invest equal amounts of capital. The contract named Mr. Zadeh as chief executive.

Mr. Zadeh provided $335,000 in start-up capital, and he invested another approximately $30 million in the company, according to bank documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Zadeh’s affidavits contend Sheikh Hasher didn’t contribute any capital. Sheikh Hasher denies the equity partnership ever existed.

Business took off quickly. One of Al Fajer’s biggest projects was a planned $750-million development of five office towers, set just inland from Dubai’s man-made, palm-tree-shaped island. Mr. Zadeh bought three of the five plots for the 40-story towers with his own money, according to financial documents. With investors lined up for units, he then awarded $215 million worth of contracts to the construction arm of Sheikh Hasher’s Al Fajer Enterprises, according to company documents.

But by late 2007, the contractors were behind schedule, according to company documents and former employees. Al Fajer Properties was facing fines for the delays, and buyers were starting to complain. Sheikh Hasher wanted payments to continue to his companies, but Mr. Zadeh claims he said no. The sheikh complained in a series of text messages that unless Mr. Zadeh released more cash, his contracting companies would go bankrupt.

On Feb. 21, 2008, Mr. Zadeh claims, he received an unusual phone call from State Security, asking him to come in that evening for a talk. When he arrived, , he claims that police blindfolded him, put him into a sport-utility vehicle and drove him to a detention center.

In the eight weeks he was jailed, Mr. Zadeh says he was never accused of a specific crime or shown an arrest warrant. Instead, he says, he was repeatedly interrogated about his personal life and Al Fajer’s operations, and gave his interrogators the combination to the company’s safe after they asked for it. “They told me that if I did not cooperate that they would ruin me,” Mr. Zadeh said.

Mr. Zadeh contends the only copy of his partnership agreement with Sheikh Hasher was in the safe. Former employees of Al Fajer say the company safe was emptied while Mr. Zadeh was jailed.

On March 6, Sheikh Hasher’s son, Sheikh Maktoum, was named the new chief executive of Al Fajer Properties. Sheikh Hasher hired international accountants to audit Al Fajer’s books, according to former employees. He then presented the findings to employees and select clients, accusing Mr. Zadeh of embezzling funds. Phone calls and emails sent to lawyers and accountants of Al Fajer Properties were not returned.

Sheikh Hasher says Mr. Zadeh stole money from him, but did not provide evidence, or the audit, to back his claim. Mr. Zadeh denies it.

Prosecutors refused to investigate the case, citing an order from Dubai’s attorney general, an official appointed by the ruler. In November, Mr. Zadeh tried one last option. He approached the ruler’s diwan, or court administration, and asked for mediation from Sheikh Mohammed himself.

So far, there has been no reply.

read more about ….

Al Fajer Properties Sheikh plans counter claim

source Zawya (AFP)

DUBAI, May 25, 2009 (AFP) – A Dubai sheikh being sued by an Iranian businessman over 1.9 billion dollars in property investments plans to file a counterclaim demanding compensation for losses, his lawyer said on Monday.

Shahram Abdullah Zadeh, the former chief executive of Dubai-based developer Al-Fajer Properties, filed the initial lawsuit against the firm and  Sheikh Hasher Maktoum bin Jumaa al-Maktoum, in February, claiming he was the sole investor and real owner of the company.

“We have requested time to file a counterclaim to demand compensation from Shahram Zadeh,” lawyer Samir Jaafar told AFP following a fourth hearing in the case on Monday.

Zadeh accused the defence of “running away from responding to the lawsuit” against Sheikh Hasher, a brother-in-law of Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum.

He said Sheikh Hasher was registered as owning Al-Fajer PropertiesAl-Fajer Properties
Al Fajer Properties, because being a foreigner he could not register it under his own name.

He told AFP his defence had requested the appointment of an auditor to trace capital inflows into the company, and said despite claims that he was just an employee he never took a salary or had an employment contract.

“He was supposed to earn a share of profits made under his management. But the company did not make any profits,” Jaafar responded.

Al-Fajer Properties, which since February 2009 has been run by Sheikh Hasher’s son, Sheikh Maktoum, filed two complaints with Dubai police in February and March, accusing Zadeh of embezzling 114 million dirhams (31.06 million dollars).

A representative of Zadeh’s lawyer, Salim al-Shaali, called the two claims false and said a complaint about them has been lodged with the public prosecution.

Zadeh is demanding the recovery of all assets of Al-Fajer PropertiesAl-Fajer Properties
Al Fajer Properties, estimated in the lawsuit at seven billion dirhams (1.9 billion dollars).

The judge adjourned Monday’s hearing to June 17.

Al Fajer Properties – Dynasty Zarooni – Ebony Ivory case – Dubai Court grants bail to Kabir Mulchandani

source GulfNews May 21, 2009

Dubai: Dubai Public Prosecution has granted bail to a senior executive of a real estate company who is being interrogated over alleged financial irregularities, Gulf News has learnt.

“The Dubai Public Prosecution granted bail to Dynasty Zarooni Real Estate’s Chairman Kabir Mulchandani. yesterday, but the interrogation continues over his alleged fraud and swindling charges,” a senior public prosecutor told Gulf News on Thursday.

Lawyer Eisa Bin Haider confirmed that his client was released on bail on Thursday.

The Case Dynasty Zarooni – Al Fajer Properties
Jumeirah Business Centre 7,8,9 -
Ebony Ivory Towers – Jumeirah Lake Towers

The Public Prosecution has been questioning Kabir Mulchandani., an Indian, and the firm’s president, an Emirati national, Hilal Al Zarooni, over alleged fraudulent charges.

Salem Al Sha’ali, the legal representative of investors who were reportedly swindled, said earlier some of his clients lodged nearly 30 complaints worth millions of dirhams against the suspects.

More about this case Dynasty Zarooni - Al Fajer Properties ( Jumeirah Business Centre – complaining investors) from the past

Shahram Zadeh against Al Fajer Properties Maktoum Hasher Juma Al Maktoum – Comment of the Month

April 10, 2009 comment from Salahudin

I am a lawyer & familiar with such disputes known as financial cases.

Its actually very simple, the judge has to appoint an Accounts Expert (Court Appointed Auditor), to examine the accounts of Al Fajer Properties, and it will be very clear if Sheikh Hasher Maktoum has invested anything. I believe the lawyer of Sheikh Hasher Maktoum, Sheikh maktoum Hasher & Al fajer will do their best to close the case before the court appoints an Expert to avoid the embaressement.

If Sheikh Maktoum Hasher Al Maktoum succeeds in closing the case without the court Auditor examining Al fajer accounts, then it will be a big loss to dubai justice system because it shows they are afraid the truth will come out!!!

Sheikh Hasher Maktoum should be smart and try to settle the case with Dr.Zadeh Shahram before it becomes a nationalembaressement for Dubai ruling family.

__________________________________________________________

April 10, 2009 comment from Tom

If the sheikhs win this case, it will be the end of foreign investor’s trust in dubai. This will be a test for dubai, is it really a safe & secure investment hub as they portray it???? Or the laws are not applicable to the ruling family?

__________________________________________________________

April 10, 2009 comment from Al Fajer Victim

This is going to be a test case for dubai. This will reveal the depth of the corruption & behind the scenes torture, illegal arrest, fabrication of cases, all to protect the few sheikhs like sheikh hasher maktoum & his well known crook son who just thursday threatened me in front of my wife that if I complain about al fajer “it will have very bad consequences, I don’t want you to disapear” Shame on you sheikh maktoum hasher, you are nothing but a thief with everyone.

Moscow Says Dubai Keeping Silent on Yamadayev Attack

source MoscowTimes

Prosecutor General Yury Chaika said Monday that his office was in the dark about whether Chechen strongman Sulim Yamadayev was killed last month and whether Dubai police wanted to arrest State Duma Deputy Adam Delimkhanov as the suspected mastermind.

Chaika’s comments raised questions about the level of cooperation between the United Arab Emirates and Russia in the attack on Yamadayev in Dubai on March 28.

Chaika told reporters that the Prosecutor General’s Office has had no contacts with Dubai authorities over the attack. “All exchange of information goes through the Foreign Ministry,” he said, RIA-Novosti reported.

Russia’s consul in Dubai, Sergei Krasnogor, said Monday that the Foreign Ministry in the United Arab Emirates has kept quiet about the Yamadayev case. “We sent a note to the Foreign Ministry of the United Arab Emirates more than a week ago,” he told RIA-Novosti. Russian diplomats have not received a reply, he said.

Dubai police chief Dhahi Khalfan Tamim has said two men are being held in connection with the attack, and international warrants will be issued for four others, including Delimkhanov. Delimkhanov has denied complicity.

Yamadayev’s younger brother, Isa, maintained in an interview published Monday that Sulim was alive and being protected by Dubai police. He said his brother was recovering from injuries and would soon return to Russia, Moskovsky Komsomolets reported.

Dubai Police Accuse Lawmaker In Chechen Exile’s Killing

source RadioFreeEurope

Authorities in the United Arab Emirates say a member of the Russian State Duma who is a close relative of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov has emerged as the chief suspect in ordering the assassination of a former Chechen general in Dubai.

Dubai’s police chief, Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan bin Tamim, told a news conference on April 5 that he would put out an international arrest warrant through Interpol for Adam Delimkhanov, deputy chairman of the State Duma’s Federal and Regional Affairs Committee, in connection with the killing of Sulim Yamadayev last month.

Yamadayev, who was shot in the head outside his Dubai apartment building on March 28, was the latest in a spate of Chechens killed after challenging Kadyrov.

Delimkhanov released a statement through his press secretary, Tamerlan Mezhidov, denying any involvement in the killing. “I am a politician who has battled terrorists for most of my life,” Mezhidov read. “I am prepared to assist any law enforcement authorities in this situation, including authorities in Dubai.”

In the statement, Delimkhanov said he doesn’t “understand the basis for [the Dubai authorities'] suspicion,” and called the announcement an “attempt to destabilize the situation in Chechnya.”

Tamim, the Dubai police chief, revealed new details in the slaying, saying the assassin ambushed Yamadayev outside his apartment in the city’s Jumeirah Beach district.

After shooting Yamadayev in the head, the killer threw away the weapon near the crime scene. Tamim said the weapon was a gold-plated Russian-made Makarov pistol similar to those used by Delimkhanov’s bodyguards.

Tamim said two suspects, an Iranian and a Tajik, were arrested shortly after Yamadayev’s killing. Four other suspects are still at large in Russia, he said.

Russian prosecutors say Russian law forbids them from extraditing Delimkhanov, who also enjoys immunity from prosecution as a Duma deputy.

“I am a bit disheartened and perplexed by this,” says Ruslan Kutayev, head of the International Committee for Problems of the North Caucasus, says. “At the same time, I don’t have any reason not to believe the United Arab Emirates police chief’s announcement.”

‘Chosen Successor’

Political analyst Yulia Latynina says Kadyrov has made it clear to his inner circle that he wants Delimkhanov to take over as president should anything happen to him, “as one of his most trusted confidants.”

Kadyrov’s father, Akhmed-haji Kadyrov, was killed by a bomb blast in May 2004 during ceremonies marking the anniversary of the end of World War II.

Delimkhanov served in a series of posts under Kadyrov before joining the Duma. He headed a police force protecting oil facilities and served as deputy prime minister in charge of security services in the republic. In 2007 he was elected to the State Duma on the pro-Kremlin Unified Russia party list.

Umar Israilov, another Chechen exile, in written statements filed with the European Court of Human Rights accused Delimkhanov of involvement in illegal detentions and torture in Chechnya. Israilov was assassinated in Vienna in January.

Another prominent Chechen, former Duma Deputy Ruslan Yamadayev — Sulim’s elder brother and a Kadyrov rival — was shot dead near the Kremlin in Moscow in September 2008.

RFE/RL’s North Caucasus and Russian services contributed to this report

Dubai police accuse Chechen vice-PM in murder case

source AFP

DUBAI (AFP) — Dubai police on Sunday accused Chechen Vice-Prime Minister Adam Delimkhanov of ordering the assassination in the Gulf city state of the former Russian army commander from Chechnya, Sulim Yamadayev.

“Adam Delimkhanov is the man behind the assassination of Sulim Yamadayev,” head of Dubai police Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim told reporters.

Tamim said Delimkhanov was “wanted in the (United Arab) Emirates, and we will demand his arrest by Interpol.

“The weapon (used in the assassination) belongs to the guards of the Chechen vice-prime minister,” he added.

In a first reaction Delimkhanov rejected the allegations.

“The statements by the Dubai police chief are provocative and aimed at destabilizing Chechen society,” Ria Novosti news agency quoted him as saying.

Yamadayev, a bitter foe of Chechen leader Ramzam Kadyrov, was shot and killed on March 28 in a parking lot outside his apartment at Dubai’s Jumeirah Beach Residence complex.

“The crime is of Chechen making… It is a dirty settling of accounts… a cheap operation,” Tamim said.

The Chechen representative in the Russian upper house of parliament, Ziad Spassibi, said the police statements were “only aimed at covering up the total failure of Dubai police in the investigation.”

“These statements are aimed at aggravating the situation in Chechnya and in southern Russia,” ITAR-TASS news agency quoted him as saying.

“The killers should be hunted down where they are without pointing a finger at politicians.”

A source at the public prosecutor’s office in Moscow meanwhile said that whatever the outcome of the investigation Russia would not extradite any Russian nationals should there be any such request.

Two men, Mahdi Lournia from Iran and Tajik national Makhsud-Jan, are being held for questioning over the killing.

Tamim said Lournia was a main suspect but stressed that Iran and the Iranian intelligence service were not involved in the affair, and no other authorities had assisted Dubai police.

He said other than Delimkhanov, two Russians and a Kazakh were also on the wanted list. They left Dubai soon after Yamadayev’s murder, Tamim said. “Russia must move and take a firm position to rein in these killers,” he said.

Tamim did not clarify whether the suspected killer was among those arrested, but said they had a man in custody who had confessed to having said “Sulim has arrived,” in an apparent reference to recorded phone conversations.

Mystery over Yamadayev’s death engulfed the emirate last week, with Dubai police issuing a statement on the Saturday of the attack that he had been killed, a report which relatives denied.

“He was buried in Dubai,” Tamim said at the press conference.

On Wednesday, Spassibi came out and said Yamadayev had indeed been killed.

“Unfortunately, he is dead and has been buried in Dubai,” said Spassibi. “He was buried on Monday in Al-Kuz cemetery in Dubai at 3:00 pm local time (1100 GMT).”

A former Chechen separatist, Yamadayev switched sides in the late 1990s and became the commander of Vostok, an elite battalion which fought the rebels. He was honoured with Russia’s top decoration, the Hero of Russia award.

He was dismissed from the military late last year amid bitter rivalry with Kadyrov, and Russian police issued an arrest warrant against him over the kidnapping of a Chechen businessman in 1998.

Yamadayev left Russia and moved to Dubai four months ago for fear of his life after a brother was assassinated in September 2008, according to the Russian media.

“Exporting the conflicts of warring gangs in Chechnya to us is not acceptable… We will strike with an iron fist anyone who dares to violate our country’s security,” Tamim said.

Dubai : Yamadayev still alive ?

source The National

DUBAI // Police disclosed yesterday that the former Chechen warlord who was shot and killed on Saturday had survived 19 previous attempts on his life before he moved to Dubai, even as the victim’s family continued to insist that he had only been wounded and was still alive.

It also emerged that the victim, Sulim Yamadayev, 36, had been living in the city with his wife and six children in a flat owned by the family. Earlier, police said Yamadayev had “retired” and moved to Dubai four months ago.

A police source said that despite the presence of two unarmed bodyguards, Yamadayev was unable to escape the 20th assassination attempt.

“There were 19 failed assassinations,” the source said, “and they succeeded in the 20th.”

According to the police, Yamadayev, a former Chechen rebel fighter who switched sides to fight for the Russians, was shot in the back of the head on Saturday afternoon in the car park of his apartment block at Jumeirah Beach Residence.

“No one is allowed to carry a gun here except for national security officers, and that’s why his bodyguards were unarmed and couldn’t defend him,” the police source said.

Meanwhile, Yamadayev’s extended family continued to insist yesterday that he was alive and recovering from the attack in a Dubai hospital.

The police remain adamant that Yamadayev died at the scene, with one senior official saying Yamadayev had been buried yesterday at Al Quoz cemetery.

Six hospitals in Dubai, when contacted by The National, said they did not have a patient by the name of Yamadayev.

Bloomberg News quoted Dr Ben Omran, whom it identified as an official at the police morgue, as saying that Yamadayev’s body had been released to his family.

Ziad Spassibi, a senator who represents Chechnya in the upper house of the Russian parliament, also supported the police account. “Unfortunately, he is dead and has been buried in Dubai,” he told the Russian Interfax news agency. “He was buried on Monday in the Al Quoz cemetery in Dubai at 3pm local time. This information is from official channels in the United Arab Emirates.”

According to Interfax, some Russian media have speculated that the police are trying to protect a wounded Yamadayev while they hunt for the culprits.

Bloomberg News also reported that Yamadayev’s younger brother, Isa, was continuing to insist that his brother had survived the attack. He visited his brother in hospital yesterday for the third day, Isa Yamadayev said, and doctors told him that his brother’s life was not in danger.

Later, Agence France-Presse reported that a Russian television station had carried an interview with Isa Yamadayev, again claiming his brother was alive.

“He feels fine,” he reportedly told NTV in a telephone interview from Dubai. “The doctors do not let us talk with him for a long time. They also said nothing threatens his life. Everything will be fine.”

The victim’s wife, Milana, and six children are believed to be in Dubai, but it is unclear if they are staying in the apartment, which is said to be registered in the name of Yamadayev’s wife.

Kommersant, a Russian newspaper, quoted Milana as saying that she, too, had seen her husband alive in hospital yesterday.

Seven people have been arrested in Dubai in connection with the killing of Sulim Yamadayev.

source presstv

At least seven people have been arrested in Dubai in connection with the killing of Sulim Yamadayev, says a Russian consulate official.

Yamadayev, leading opponent of Chechnya’s pro-Moscow president Ramzan Kadyrov, was gunned down by unknown assailants in an underground garage in Dubai on Saturday. He later died from his wounds after falling into a coma at a military hospital.

“The suspects are all currently at the Prosecutor General’s Office in Dubai,” Russia’s Consulate General Sergei Krasnogor told RIA Novosti on Tuesday, adding that all the suspects had Slavic surnames.

Krasnogor will meet the UAE’s chief prosecutor on Wednesday to discuss the arrests and Yamadayev’s murder, RIA said.

Reuters also quoted the Dubai police chief as saying on Tuesday that a Russian national had been detained in connection with the murder.

Reports had earlier emerged that Yamadayev was alive and undergoing medical treatment in a Dubai hospital. However, a Dubai police source, speaking to RIA, dismissed the reports that Yamadayev had survived the attack.

Yamadayev is the latest of the foes of Chechnya’s President Ramzan Kadyrov to be killed in recent years.

Yamadayev — dubbed as a ‘Hero of Russia’ for his anti-terrorist military service in the Caucasus — was removed from his duties in August over an alleged involvement in the 1998 abduction and murder of a Chechen tradesman.

Yamadayev’s older brother, Ruslan, a former Duma deputy, was one of the Chechen exiles whose assassination in September last year is blamed on Kadyrov — a charge the Chechen president has categorically denied.

Five months ago and after the death of his brother, Yamadayev together with his wife and 6 children fled to Dubai, where he lived under a false name.

Chechen former military commander assassinated in Dubai on Saturday was not a man without enemies

source The National

The Chechen former military commander assassinated in Dubai on Saturday was not a man without enemies.

Sulim Yamadayev was deeply entrenched in the complicated loyalties and violent feuds that have characterised the Kremlin’s turbulent and bloody pacification of Russia’s volatile Muslim republic of Chechnya.

Having studied business in Moscow and military tactics in Afghanistan, Yamadayev, together with his brothers, Ruslan and Dzhabrail, fought with Chechen rebels against Russian forces in the bloody 1994-96 war that ended with de facto independence from Moscow for the rebel government.

However, when Vladimir Putin, then the Russian prime minister, sent federal troops to retake Chechnya in 1999, the entire Yamadayev clan switched sides and were subsequently rewarded by the Kremlin.

Yamadayev led the elite special forces Vostok battalion following his brother Dzhabrail’s death in a car bombing in 2003. The unit gained an unsavoury reputation for involvement in criminal cases of extortion and murder, and was alleged to have committed war crimes, including the murders of civilians, rape, torture, and severing the heads of their victims.

Following the appointment of the former boxer and militia leader Ramzan Kadyrov as president of Chechnya in 2007, Yamadayev’s unit, which according to the Moscow Times answered directly to the Russian defence ministry’s main intelligence directorate, continued to be the only militia operating outside Kadyrov’s control, and the two men became bitter rivals.

Tensions between the two clans came to a head in April 2008, when Vostok battalion vehicles refused to yield to Kadyrov’s motorcade, leading to a gun battle that reportedly left two people dead.

The road standoff marked a turning point in the feud, as Kadyrov publicly began accusing the Yamadayevs of crimes including kidnap and murder, and Chechen prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Sulim Yamadayev.

However, there was no attempt to arrest Yamadayev, despite the fact that Russian authorities clearly knew where he was.

In August last year, Russian and international media reported that Yamadayev and his men had fought on behalf of the Russians during the week-long conflict with Georgia over the breakaway Georgian republic of South Ossetia. He was relieved of his command soon after the clashes.

In September, Ruslan Yamadayev, who had become a member of the Russian parliament after the war, serving in the party of Mr Putin, was assassinated near the central government headquarters in Moscow in an audacious drive-by shooting.

Rumours immediately spread that Kadyrov might have been behind the killing, although Russian officials and Kadyrov himself were quick to deny those suggestions. To date nobody has been arrested for the murder.

Yamadayev is the latest in a series of Chechen exiles to have been murdered in recent months.

Last month, the former deputy mayor of Grozny, Gilani Shepiyev, was shot outside his Moscow apartment, while in January, Umar Israilov, who had been Ramzan Kadyrov’s bodyguard before falling out with the Chechen president and accusing him of kidnapping and torture, was shot dead in Vienna, where he had been granted political asylum.

In December last year, Islam Dzhanibekov, a former Chechen rebel, was killed in Istanbul, where he had been living for the past six years. He was the third Chechen in six months to have been murdered in Turkey.

Members of the Chechen community have little doubt who they think is behind the killings, according to Yavuz Selim Kurt, who runs the Economic and Social Research Centre think-tank based in Istanbul.

“They suspect Kadyrov is responsible for all these assassinations, with the co-operation of the Russian intelligence services,” he said.

“People are very worried. There are more than 20,000 Chechen refugees in Turkey, and they fear for their safety.”

However, there may be signs that the previously close relationship between Kadyrov and the Kremlin is starting to fray. Earlier this month, the Moscow Times reported that Putin and his former protégé had “traded thinly veiled barbs” over whose responsibility it was to pay for the rebuilding of Chechnya, which is impoverished after more than a decade and a half of war.

Sulim Yamadayev shot and killed outside Jumeirah Beach Residence

source The National

Dubai // The man shot and killed outside his flat in Jumeirah Beach Residence on Saturday was confirmed yesterday by the Russian government as a notorious militia commander from Chechnya.

Russia’s consul in Dubai, Sergei Krasnogor, said relatives of the dead man had identified him as Sulim Yamadayev, 36, who also until recently led a Russian special forces unit that has been accused of war crimes.

“I just received confirmation from the Dubai Police that he was killed,” Mr Krasnogor said, according to a report from the Reuters news agency.

“We haven’t personally seen any papers or a passport yet.”

The men responsible for murdering the 36-year-old took his BMW car after shooting him dead in the car park of his building, according to police.

Police sources said the killer was still at large and that no one had been charged with his murder, despite reports claiming that a man was being held in connection with the shooting.

The killing has attracted attention from high-ranking officials, according to the government news agency WAM. Lt Gen Dahi Khalfan Tamim, the chief of Dubai Police, and his deputy, Major Gen Khamis Mattar al Mazinah, both visited the crime scene, together with a third official identified as the head of the Directorate General of State Security.

“A team of national security and CID officers has been formed to lead a murder investigation,” said the police source.

“The victim was shot multiple times in the car park and the killers took off with his vehicle, a BMW. It is not clear why the car was taken but they could have done so to search the car or to dispose of it in their own way.”

Meanwhile, international and local media continue to speculate on the circumstances surrounding the murder. One Russian newspaper claimed the victim had survived the shooting but that he was seriously injured and being treated in a Dubai hospital.

Police sources dismissed such reports yesterday. One said: “He is definitely dead.”

Sources also hinted there were no bodyguards present at the time of murder. “If there were bodyguards with him, where would they go, and how would the car get stolen?”

Yamadayev’s brother, Ruslan Yamadayev, was shot dead on Sept 24, 2008 on Smolenskaya Embankment in Moscow.

Chechen National Shot Dead outside Jumeirah Beach Residence in Dubai – The Victim may have been on the Hit-list for Rebels

source KhaleejTimes

DUBAI – Chechen national Suleyman Madov, who was shot dead near his apartment in Dubai Marina on Saturday, may have been on a hit-list containing the names of 2,000 Chechen rebels, experts warn.

Russian experts say that four exiles of the former Soviet republic killed over the past year had their names on the hit list. The list, which includes many opponents to the pro-Russian Chechen president, Ramzan Kadyrov, has since been published on dissident website Chechenpress.

Yury Federov, Russian political expert at UK think tank Chatham House, said that he had seen the list but could not confirm its content. “I cannot say for sure whether he was killed as an opponent of Kadyrov, but this is a very suspicious case,” he told Khaleej Times.

Dissident websites have also been quick to connect his death with that of Umar Israilov, a former Chechen rebel who was shot dead in Vienna in January. Prior to being shot, Israilov was reported to have told his family that he was on a “death list”.

In January, Austrian Interior Minister Rudolf Gollia said that officials were contacting individuals named on the list, in an interview with German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur.  A copy of the list in English was not immediately available. Dubai Police would not confirm whether they were working with Austrian authorities on the issue.

Police have also declined to give details of the exact location of the murder. However, the official UAE news agency Wam, in a statement on Saturday night, did quote the police as saying that Madov had been “subjected to close monitoring” prior to his death.

Residents of Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR) claim that the killing took place outside of Rimal building – the same building in which Suzan Tamim was killed in July last year. No one from the developer, Dubai Properties, was available for comment.

“Security should have increased since last year,” said Hamid Hamri, chairman of JBR owners’ association. “The security staff have had no training. They should employ Nepalese gurkhas as security guards, like they do in places like Hong Kong.”

Antagonists to Kadyrov’s regime have been accused of terrorism and Chechen Islamist websites such as kavkazcenter.com are blocked in the UAE.

The Case Dynasty Zarooni – Dubai Prosecutors Rejected Bail of Kabir Mulchandani

source WallStreetJournal 7starsdubai

Dubai prosecutors Sunday rejected a bail application from Dynasty Zarooni’s Chairman Kabir Mulchandani who is being held by police on 450 million U.A.E. dirhams ($123 million) fraud allegations, according to documents seen by Zawya Dow Jones.

Mulchandani, who couldn’t be contacted by Zawya Dow Jones, has previously denied any wrongdoing.

Ayman Merdas, a lawyer for Global Advocates & Legal Consultants representing Mulchandani declined to comment when called by Zawya Dow Jones Monday.

Mulchandani applied for bail on March 11 but was refused March 22, according to the Public Prosecution document seen by Zawya Dow Jones.

The Dubai public prosecutor handling the Dynasty Zarooni case couldn’t be reached Tuesday.

-By Stefania Bianchi, Dow Jones Newswires, +9714 364 4967 Stefania Bianchi@dowjones.com

more about this case from Archive 7StarsDubai

Al Fajer Properties Dubai Court Case : Anyone can sue anyone, whether they are from the ruling family or not,’ Tamimi said.

source REUTERS March 11, 2009

Dubai court began a hearing against three members of the emirate’s ruling family after businessman sought $1.9 billion in compensation for the alleged seizure of his firm.

The claimant, Shahram Abdullah Zadeh, a Dubai-based Iranian businessman and property owner, filed the civil suit, alleging that his business had been taken over by Sheikh Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoum, according to case documents obtained by Reuters.

The court handling the case against Al Fajer Real Estate and members of the Dubai ruling family began the trial but adjourned to April 8 after defendants did not attend.

‘We attended the session but the defendant did not attend and the session was adjourned to April 8,’ Salem Al Shaali, Zadeh’s lawyer from Al Shaali & Co, told Reuters by telephone.

Sheikh Hasher had sponsored Zadeh in line with the United Arab Emirates law which requires foreigners to have a UAE national as a partner or sponsor to carry out business activities, the documents showed.

Sheikh Hasher declined to comment by telephone or respond through email. His son and daughter could not be reached by telephone.

The suit is likely to draw wide attention as a test case for Dubai, home to many Western banks and a regional business hub.

Dubai has fashioned itself as a tourist destination and business-friendly centre for many international firms, and captured global attention by building palm-shaped islands in the sea and the world’s tallest building.

Last year, as Dubai’s booming real estate market reached dizzying heights, the emirate launched a high-profile anti-corruption campaign that saw the arrest of several well-known business figures.

But the prolonged detention of several Dubai property executives as part of the probe has been criticised by groups such as Amnesty International.

Zadeh accuses Al Fajer company, Sheikh Hasher, his son and his daughter, of involvement in the case, according to case documents. The case names the daughter, Sheikha Meryam, as a partner of the firm, and the son, Sheikh Maktoum, as a manager.

Zadeh alleged that Sheikh Hasher and Sheikha Meryam have ’seized all the company has from cash monies, movables, properties, and others’ in March last year, according to case documentation.

The seizure of the company occurred while Zadeh was held in custody of Dubai police, according to Zadeh.

‘I was arrested for 60 days on February 21, 2008 and until this day I don’t know what law I have broken, and I have not been charged with anything. I still don’t know why they have kept my passport for over one year,’ Zadeh told Reuters.

The chief of Dubai police, major general Dahi Khalfan Tamim, confirmed the arrest to Reuters by telephone and said that Zadeh was held on charges of bribery on order of the public prosecutor, charges that Zadeh denies. The public prosecutor could not be reached for comment.

Abdullah Zadeh’s lawyer, Salem Al Shaali, said he expected the case to be decided on its merits.

‘We haven’t yet seen anyone, whether from the ruling family or other, escaping the rule of law,’ he told Reuters.

Essam Al Tamimi, lawyer at Al Tamimi & Co. told Reuters by telephone that the judicial system in the UAE ‘is very independent from the government and the ruling family’.

‘Anyone can sue anyone, whether they are from the ruling family or not,’ Tamimi said.

Archive Al Fajer

Al Fajer Properties Case opened on Wednesday – lawsuit also targets Sheikh Hasher Maktoum`s daughter as a partner of the firm and the son, Sheikh Maktoum Hasher Maktoum Juma Maktoum

DUBAI, Mar 11, 2009 source Zawya

An Iranian businessman ( Shahram Abdulla Zadeh )  is suing members of Dubai’s ruling family for close to two billion dollars over real estate investments, in a case which opened on Wednesday.

Shahram Abdullah Zadeh, former CEO of Al-Fajer Properties
who was fired in 2008, has filed the lawsuit against the firm and its owner Sheikh Hasher Maktoum bin Jumaa al-Maktoum, a brother-in-law of the emirate’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum.

The lawsuit also targets Sheikh Hasher’s daughter as a partner of the firm and a son, Sheikh Maktoum, who has since been appointed president of Al-Fajer, according to legal documents obtained by AFP.

The case demands the “recovery of all material assets of Al-Fajer Properties
which gave no immediate reaction to the opening of the case.

Zadeh insists he was the real owner of the company and the only investor.

He had used Sheikh Hasher’s name to obtain the firm’s licence, as foreigners are not allowed to register real estate companies under their own name in the United Arab Emirates.

“I was the sole investor. Al-Fajer Properties
is my company. Sheikh Hasher’s only contribution has been the real estate licence as a sponsor,” he told AFP.

Zadeh is demanding seven billion dirhams (1.9 billion dollars), which “includes the plaintiff’s investments and the return on them,” his lawyer Salem al-Shaali said.

“We have enough documents to prove he was the sole investor,” he added.

Only a representative of the plaintiff’s lawyer was in the Dubai court of first instance for the hearing, which lasted a few minutes. The court’s list named Al-Fajer as the defendant, with no mention of the Maktoums.

The judge referred to them by numbers before the hearing was adjourned to April 8.

Zadeh has said he was detained by Dubai police without charge for 60 days last year, at the same time as he was dismissed, and that his passport was confiscated for a year, without an explanation.

The civil case comes as several executives from high-profile Dubai firms are held on suspicion of embezzlement and as the once booming regional business and tourism hub struggles to stave off the impact of the global economic slowdown.

ak/hc

Al Fajer Properties – Comment of the day

I started with Al Fajer Properties from day 1 under Dr. Shahram and saw how he invested his money, dedicated his time 24/7 and created a brand out of Al Fajer. Sheikh Hasher Maktoum is an old fashioned 65 year old who loves gossip and whispers.

All the Al Fajer staff witnessed how Dr. Shahram fought with Al Ahmadiah (sheikh hasher’s contracting company that was building the towers for al fajer), because Al Ahmadiah was not doing anything on site. That was damaging Al fajer Properties name and Dr. Shahram felt responsible towards the investors and thats what triggered sheikh hasher maktoum’s aggressive behaviour towards Dr shahram.

The son, Sheikh Maktoum Hasher Al maktoum, was a nobody. Even Sheikh Hasher always told us not to let him in the office! I remember sheikh maktoum hasher used to call Dr. Shahram’s secretary or the receptionist and request to book the meeting room to bring his friends and show off!!!

When Dr Shahram disappeared, we were told by sheikh maktoum hasher that the state security has taken him and he is never coming back!!! That was the begining of a series of illegal activity by sheikh maktoum hasher in the company, including changing documents, illegal sales of properties, threatening many staff members with state security arrests,…etc

Everyone in Al Fajer knows that Dr. Shahram was & is the owner of Al Fajer Properties. Sheikh maktoum hasher always uses his “uncles” name Sheikh Mohammed Bin rashid, the dubai ruler to threaten people.

The rest of the world is not stupid, somebody is locked up for 60 days, tortured, passport confiscated for a year, no charges against him, his business has been stolen by the brother in law of dubai ruler, the case he filed at the public prosecution is closed without an explanation.

Is this the fair, just society that sheikh mohammed bin rashid has envisioned in his Dubai Strategy? So the government is actively helping criminals? Why nobody dares to talk?

Al Fajer Employee
22. February 2009

Former UAE Minister of State Al Falasi gets two years in jail for fraud

original published xpress Dubai
http://www.xpress4me.com/news/uae/dubai/20012058.html

Former UAE minister of state Khalifa Mohammad Bakhit Al Falasi was on Wednesday sentenced to two years in jail by the Dubai Misdemeanours Courts after being found guilty of fraud and embezzlement.

The charges related to swindling a Lebanese woman of her family’s Dubai-based business, an undisclosed amount of money, believed to be millions of dirhams, and a large property.

Two other defendants – American businessman Salim Helmy Abdullah and Indian businessman Bilal Madhom Raman – were also jailed for two years.

The former minister’s son, Mohammed Khalifa Al Falasi, was acquitted on all charges.

In an exception to its usual policy, an official statement from Dubai Courts named all the defendants.

Presiding Judge Hamad Abdul Latif also initiated an action for a civil suit which is to be filed on behalf of the victim against the three defendants.

The charges, brought by Lebanese businesswoman Maysoon Fahmy Jamal, led to the former minister’s dismissal by a presidential decree last July, just five months after his appointment.

Ms Jamal, according to Dubai Public Prosecution, was involved in business dealings with Al Falasi since 1995.

In her deposition to prosecutors, she said her late brother Hassan Fahmy Jamal was the owner of an IT company which developed computer security technology.

Khalifa Mohammad Bakhit Al Falasi was, for a fee, the company’s sponsor.

She said that between May 2005 and May 2008, Al Falasi and the two other defendants who were employed under him swindled her by tricking her into signing a release form in order for the former minister and his partners to take over the company.

She stated that the group falsely informed her that the former minister was a part-owner in the company and approached her with business offerings that could boost her other businesses.

The minister, his son, and their co-defendants earlier denied all charges. Those found guilty are expected to file an appeal immediately.

Dynasty Zarooni Fraud Dubai – Some statements from Investors

 http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1221052

Kabir Mulchandani, who was arrested in Dubai in connection with an alleged realty scam, is also alleged to have floated another scheme of three 40-floor buildings( Jumeirah Business Centre 7, 8,9 )  in Jumeirah opposite the Dubai Marina — the most posh locality of the Emirates.

Full page advertisements were run in papers, making him the largest advertiser of the Emirates during the period, said Mohammed Marzooq from Kerala. “He showed us the picture of a building with a podium, three-storeyed car parking and a complete floor for a departmental store. It was half complete and the rest of the 35 floors were to be built in the next one year”, Marzooq said.

Atul Patel, a UK-born Indian , a multinational from US, told DNA over the phone that he had “booked a 10,000 sq ft flat in the 35-floor building called Ebony Ivory at Jumeirah for 3.5 million dirhams.”

“I paid the entire amount because I was dealing with the company for some other work. During a vacation in Europe recently, I happened to meet someone who was unhappy with the project. On my return, I went to the site and found that I too had been duped royally,” Atul said.

When cornered by 12 investors, Marzooq said Mulchandani flew them to Nice (in France) in his jet and treated them to a cruise vacation. He showed them properties in Nice. Claiming them to be his own, he asked them to invest there for speedy returns.

“He convinced all of us to sign a cheque, promising that it wouldn’t be encashed till their return to Dubai. Upon arriving at Dubai we found that the cheque had already been encashed,” Marzooq said.

A complainant told DNA that Mulchandani threatened him with deportation due to his clout in the UAE.

News from Dynasty Zarooni and Al Fajer Properties – I’m the victim’, says property tycoon

http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090211/BUSINESS/886702850/1051

Last Updated: February 11. 2009 10:28PM UAE / February 11. 2009 6:28PM GMT

Kabir Mulchandani, an Indian property tycoon detained by police in Dubai, says people who are accusing him of fraud are trying to get out of investments that turned sour because of the property downturn.

The chairman of Dynasty Zarooni is being held because more than 25 investors, with claims worth Dh280 million (US$76.2m), have accused him of fraudulently selling them property and running an illegal investment scheme, a lawyer for the investors said. Mr Mulchandani, 36, denies the accusations and says he is being targeted by a group of investors who are unable to meet their obligations as the property market deteriorates.

“I am the victim here,” he said. “After Lehman Brothers went bust the world changed… The system is being misused by certain individuals who are just wanting money and wanting to get out of commitments they have made that they are not able to fulfil because the market has turned.”

Mr Mulchandani said his case was likely to be a predecessor to a rash of similar cases caused by the decline in the property market. Dubai property prices have fallen by about 25 per cent since hitting a peak last year.

“It is going to turn into a bloodbath of attacks by investors who just want to get out of obligations,” he said. “Do you think I would be sitting here had the market been OK?”

Dynasty Zarooni, a joint venture between Mr Mulchandani and Hilal al Zarooni, an Emirati businessman, is one of the highest profile property companies to come under scrutiny by the authorities since the property market began to fall late last year. The company was the top newspaper advertising buyer in the Emirates last year, spending $14.6m and topping the likes of Nakheel and Emaar Properties, according to figures from the Pan Arab Research Centre. Its advertising spending ranked 10th across the Middle East.

The company, founded in 2005, is a property resale and marketing operation. It has bought entire buildings off-plan from developers with a bulk discount and re-sold floors and units to investors at a premium. Then, as a service to these core investors, it would market the buildings prominently around the country to facilitate their resale to retail buyers. Usually, Dynasty Zarooni would play a middleman role for the first payments and then contracts would be issued between the buyer and the developer, cutting the company out of the deal.

It sold 29 buildings in this way last year, according to executives. The business was profitable, with Mr Mulchandani planning a foray into New York City property before his arrest.

He lives in the Emirates Hills development in Dubai.

A group of investors, however, allege Mr Mulchandani built his company by misleading investors, according to Salem al Shaali, a lawyer representing several investors.

One of the allegations is that Dynasty Zarooni displayed one building and sold another.Investors said they were shown buildings that were several storeys high, and told that they were the Ebony and Ivory towers. They bought dozens of units, and in some cases several floors, of the buildings. The buildings were also misrepresented in advertising, the investors say.

One advertisement in a daily newspaper on July 23 last year showed 24 photographs of “round the work” progress on the Ebony and Ivory projects. A caption for the photographs reads: “Shot at location on 10th June 2008. Ebony & Ivory – Jumeirah Lakes Towers.”

 In fact, the images showed other buildings in the Jumeirah Business Centre complex that were further advanced in construction.

Work on the Ebony and Ivory towers plots still has advanced only to shoring and piling. A contractor has yet to be chosen for the Dh2 billion project.

The Picture shows the construction Status of today 2009, Ivory Tower ( or named Juemirah Business Centre 9, Developer Al Fajer Properties, Jumeirah Lake Towers Dubai)

Al Fajer Properties, the developer of Ebony and Ivory towers, said a construction contract would soon be signed for the towers, which it said were to be finished between next year and 2012.    An Al Fajer spokesman declined to comment on the issue.

Mr Mulchandani said the advertisements were meant to show the larger Jumeirah Business Centre complex and depict Al Fajer as a hard-working developer.

“I don’t believe it is misrepresentative in any way,” he said.

He said the company had sold the entire building in April and that the investors involved in claims against him had signed contracts that detailed which plot of land the buildings were to be built on.

Claims have emerged involving other projects that were bought and resold by Dynasty Zarooni, including the Sheffield Classique and Al Qoraishi Tower, according to Mr al Shaali.

Imran Karim, the son of an investor taking action against Mr Mulchandani, said his father, Abid Karim, was sold units in the Classique and Al Qoraishi Tower under the impression that Dynasty Zarooni was the developer.

Mr Mulchandani said he never represented himself as a developer.

Officials from Sheffield Real Estate and Baiti Properties Development, the developer behind the Al Qoraishi Tower, declined to comment.

Another allegation against Mr Mulchandani is that he created an illegal “investment club” where 12 investors were invited to pay Dh300,000 a month for 12 months for a guaranteed return of up to Dh1m a month. After six months, they expected to redeem their investments, but Mr Mulchandani did not pay, investors said.

One such investor, Mohammed Arif, who also invested with Dynasty Zarooni in several properties, said he had Dh25m with Mr Mulchandani and projects sold by Mr Mulchandani.

“I invested a lot of money with him,” he said. “I fear the money is gone.”

Mr Mulchandani said the Dh300,000 was actually a membership fee for 12 investors who bought from him in bulk. The fee would give the members the first right of refusal to buy up to 5 per cent of buildings that Dynasty Zarooni acquired, as well as use of the Dynasty Zarooni offices for resales. The fee also contributed to advertising, he added.

Marwan bin Ghalita, the chief executive of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA), declined to comment on the accusations against Dynasty Zarooni. In November, RERA stated that there were no complaints against Dynasty Zarooni, after allegations in two Indian publications that the company had sold projects while representing to investors that they were buying another project.

Officials from the Dubai Public Prosecution declined to give details on the cases, but confirmed staff members were investigating the claims.

Dubai: Murder hunt continues

Wednesday 4 Feb, 2009

Police are continuing to investigate the murder of a man in Dubai. Rohit Jagada, an Indian expat, was a popular businessman and his death has shocked people who knew him.
Officers have conducted interviews with a number of people, including members of his family, as part of the investigation, and told 7DAYS that this was routine.
An official at Dubai Police said: “In such crimes we question the relatives of the victim and their friends to see if they can help us with anything or any background.”
He added: “We are still investigating the murder.”
Jagada worked at Prince Audio Visuals in Al Quoz and was a member of the Haven Fire football team in the Dubai Amateur League. He was described by teammates as a “lovely man”. The team held a minute’s silence in his memory before their match on Monday.

From Google Video search

http://video.google.de/videoplay?docid=4416649692877507769&ei=l_9xSa2OGKXy2wKJ5cG0BQ&q=dynasty+zarooni

Prosecution looks into Dynasty Zarooni Dubai fraud claims

original published 7days 13. Jnauar 2009

http://www.7days.ae/storydetails.php?id=72375%20%20%20%20&page=local%20news&title=Prosecution%20looks%20into%20fraud

The alleged fraud case against the chairman of Dynasty Zarooni, is now under investigation by Dubai Public Prosecution, a spokesperson at the office confirmed.

A lawyer for the comp-lainants told 7DAYS that the investigation had begun with questions for the investors, who claim that the chairman, Kabir Mulchandani, defrauded them of up to dhs450 million ($123 million).

Salem Al Shaali added that he could not tell the number of investors in the case as there are “new complaints every day”.

Al Shaali also said there was a second suspect in the case, and that some investors had informed him that this suspect had already fled the country.

The law firm, Al Shaali and Company, also told newswire Zawya Dow Jones that Mulchandani is being questioned on two counts, both subject to the Federal Penal Code and Dubai’s property laws.
The first case relates to the allegations that the membership club Mulchandani has admitted to running was sold to a small group of wealthy investors under false pretences, and that they were promised large returns.

The second case involves the selling of property at the dhs2 billion Ebony and Ivory development in Dubai’s Jumeirah Lake Towers district.
According to Zawya Dow Jones, Al Shaali said that Mulchandani took deposits for 20 per cent of the property but failed to deliver the project.

Dubai Public Prosecution confirmed they had started the investigation.

Dynasty Zarooni said it preferred not to comment until charges had been brought.

We proudly double confirm: Dubai Police Arrest Dubai Dynasty Zarooni Fraudsters

WE have  complaint and complaint, running around saying  ” please  hear us – they are Fraudster” – nobody wants listen to us. At least they said our complaints are criminal. And now ????????

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=/data/theuae/2009/January/theuae_January177.xml&section=theuae

DUBAI – 10, January 2009

Dubai Police have arrested a syndicate of tricksters of India origin, who have been operating in pretext of being real estate developers.

 The Indian national arrested are Kabir Mulcandani, a UAE national Hilal Al Zarouni and two other employees of ‘Dynasty Zarouni’ a company located in Jebel Ali for issuing bouncing cheques to different nationalities mainly Indians.

Colonel Khalil Al Mansouri, Director of General Department of Criminal Investigation confirmed the arrest to Khaleej Times on Thursday.  The officer said the fraudsters are in police custody and assisting in investigations, adding that they will then be referred to the Dubai Public prosecution for further action.

Police sources said that they had received more than forty complains of different fraud cases against the suspects at various police stations and all cases were then referred to the General Department of Criminal investigation. Rajish and Alkopatra used to work as Finance Managers for the company.

While Mulchandani and his accomplice used to convince ‘potential’ investors that they were licensed to invest money and were a real estate developers.  They called on people to invest Dh 300, 000 every month and after paying 6 installments, the investor would get Dh1 million in return.

However, after the investors paid all the installments, Kabir did not show up but went into hiding, until police smashed the racket upon their arrest.

Salim Al Sha’ali, a lawyer for the suspects, told Khaleej Times that in order to convince their victims, the company announced massive media advertisements and introduced websites stating that they had successfully invested in development of real estate projects in the UAE.

The company claimed that their total investments reached Dh40 million realizing a revenue of Dh2.8 billion.

amira@khaleejtimes.com

all related reports 2008 – 2009 about Dynasty Zarooni:

http://7starsdubai.wordpress.com/?s=Al+Fajer+Properties

http://7starsdubai.wordpress.com/?s=Dynasty+Zarooni

Dynasty Zarooni Chairman – Criminal Business Partner of Al Fajer Properties Dubai – arrested

http://www.bi-me.com/main.php?id=29498&t=1&c=33&cg=4&mset=

UAE. The head of a Dubai-based real estate firm has denied reports that he had been arrested on allegations of fraud.

Kabir Mulchandani, Chairman of property investment consultant Dynasty Zarooni, said in an interview for Gulf News there was no police arrest warrant against him.

“I know some complaints have been lodged with the police by some people against our firm but these people gave cheques that bounced. They have no legitimate reason to complain,” he explained over the phone.

He said the company was “in good shape.”

Company President Hilal Al Zarouni said the company is “functioning properly”. Both executives said they didn’t know if the police were investigating the complaints.

Lawyer Salim Al Sha’ali, who represents a number of complainants, said the complaints are related to an alleged fraud scheme.

“We have been studying the legalities of the case… and we believe that there is a supposed crime of conning people out of money,” he said.

The Federal Penal Code and the property laws issued lately are the legal grounds in this case, argued the lawyer. Sources said the complaints involve some 30 investors with at least US$1 million each invested with Dynasty Zarooni.

However, Mulchandani denied the accusations and said he has “all the documents that support our position that those people have reneged on their commitments”.

Reports yesterday claimed clients said they paid AED 300,000 per month for which Mulchandani promised a return of AED 1 million a month after the first six installments. But Kabir Mulchandani said that the montly payment was a fee for investors to secure first refusal on properties sold by Dynasty Zarooni at pre-launch prices, an average discount of between 2% and 5%. And he insists no returns were ever guaranteed.

“There is not a single document, email, a fax, an SMS, that anybody can produce in Dubai or elsewhere in the world that in any way represents that we guaranteed any form of return,” he said.

He added that many investors had actually made far more than the guaranteed return he is claimed to have given, despite the slump in the property market.

He said: “This is a case of people having a situation where they can’t meet their obligations, which is unfortunate, but they shouldn’t have over-traded. You can’t buy what you can’t pay for.”

He said those making the complaints against him had bounced post-dated cheques given to the company for both the membership fee and for the properties they purchased.

Mulchandani had left India for Dubai where he set up Dynasty Zarouni, to cash in on Dubai’s booming real estate market.

Kabir Mulchandani is also the founder of Baron International, the Mumbai company that pioneered cheap colour TVs and music systems under the brand names Aiwa and Akai, a firm which came under scrutiny from the DRI and Enforcement Directorate in India.

Dynasty Zarooni markets ready-to-move in properties constructed by Dubai real estate company Al Fajer. The firm advertises these properties on his website and invites NRIs to invest money.

Al Fajer is known for its projects in Jumeirah Business Centre 1 and 2 apart from various projects at Jumeirah Lakes and Jumeirah Island.

Dubai’s Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) is probing the company’s operations after nearly 30 NRIs from India, Russia and UK complained online that he had misled them by showing a different property and selling them another

RERA authorities are reported to have told Indian newspapers that the firm had also not followed the local rule of depositing sale proceeds of real estate properties into a government-shared escrow account.

One particular complaint cites how Mulchandani allegedly sold apartments in a three-tower complex, showing the two completed towers as the properties that were for sale but allotting ownership documents of the third tower which has yet to come up.

Speaking to Mumbai Mirror RERA’s head of legal cell, Imad Hussein, is reported as saying: ”We have received complaints of 30 investors from India, Russia and the UK. The company Dynasty Zarouni offered real estate properties at half the market price.

“It also allegedly lured investors by misrepresenting a different property in the name of another. Each buyer has invested at least US$1 million with the firm.”

According to Hussein: “We have invited all investors with similar complaints through advertisements in local newspapers to come forward, and have assured them that RERA will play an active role in safeguarding their money under law number 8 in line with the directives of Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed.”

Palm Invest hired expensive prostitutes – Malika K. seen with top of Palm Invest

original published: Netherlands DeTelegraph December 2008

http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/2769684/__Palm_Invest_huurde_hoeren__.html

 

11-12-2008:

Palm Invest hired expensive prostitutes
Malika K. seen with top of Palm Invest

Palm Invest in Contract Whores

AMSTERDAM – The prostitutes in command of Palm Invest real estate fund clients in the oil state in Dubai entertained, have detailed statements before investigators of the investigation Ultra Scan.

Ultra-Scan is in command of some injured investors investigation into the money flows behind the fraudulent investment fund.

“One of the ladies in May 2007 for the men behind a Palm Invest Victoria Secret lingerie store in New York bought empty”
“This lingerie ended up in an apartment in Dubai to provide customers with a bit of Palm Invest in style too.” When Palm Invest running at full speed, investors were invited by the fund the palm islands in the oil state visit, where lucrative real estate projects would rise.

All prostitutes for Palm Invest in Dubai were active, according to the Englishman Moroccan nationality.
One of them told that she has received 40,000 euros to keep her mouth. The ladies were in Dubai maintained by men who were in contact with the men behind Palm Invest. There is much more behind than so far revealed.

Ultra Scan previously brought out that investors are also strongly put with photographs showing them to see with the prostitutes.
These photographs were secretly been made to them later under pressure to continue after they deposited their money went back requirements. The police investigation into this alleged blackmail yielded no hardcore evidence.
The main defendants deny emphatically that clients would have been squeezed with sex photos.

http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/2769684/__Palm_Invest_huurde_hoeren__.html

danger in paradise – 1 year ago in Dubai – The Story we should not fortget

Danger in Paradise

Alleged victim tells his story of a sex crime in a modern Arab metropolis.

Video

ABC News: ‘They Destroyed Me’: French Teen’s Rape Case Exposes Dubai’s Dark Side

Alleged Victim Tells His Story of Violent Sex Crime in Modern Arab Metropolis
Dec. 12, 2007

Dubai — with its world-famous luxury hotels and what will soon be the world’s tallest building — is the Arab world’s most modern oasis. But beyond the sandy beaches and tourist attractions, the western dress and the bustling buildings, Dubai is struggling to modernize one aspect of its conservative Muslim culture: the taboos and treatment of sexual violence.

16-year-old French-Swiss Alexandre Robert and his mother Veronique were the perfect example of Dubai’s cosmopolitan makeup. Alex was living in Dubai when he says he was gang raped at knifepoint, beginning an ordeal that has shed light on how Dubai’s justice system treats victims of violent sex crimes.
Today, two men were sentenced in a Dubai court to 15 years each in prison in the case. Their names and the details of their convictions were not released by the court.

Before, I felt like it was paradise, it was honestly paradise,” Alex told ABC News last month. “Today I feel like they lied to me, they treated me like nothing, like a toy. And they played with my life and I don’t know, they…they destroyed me.”

What happened to Alex has thrown a worldwide spotlight on the dark side of a city where a victim can be treated as a criminal, where homosexuality is outlawed and where AIDS is buried under a layer of shame.
“Homosexuality is taboo, rape is taboo, and AIDS is taboo,” said Veronique Robert.

Saturday July 14th of this year was just another summer day in paradise. Then 15-year-old Alex spent the day at the beach with his friend. When it was time to go home, a local teenager they barely knew offered to give them a lift when they couldn’t find a cab. He called two older friends who had a car.

Alex and his friend accepted the ride and got in the car. Alex says the man behind the wheel drove past the turnoff to his house, beyond Dubai’s landmark Mall of the Emirates, and into a desolate stretch of desert.

“So we keep driving and I see him taking an exit to go in the desert and I told him ‘Where are you going?’ And this is where I started to think and realize that something was wrong, you know, and they told me to shut up,” Alex recalled.

First Alex says the driver secured the child locks on the doors, trapping the boys inside. Then they stopped along a desert road on the outskirts of the city.

“They asked my friend to get out of the car, he said no, so they pulled him out with violence and they started hitting, hitting him and they hit me. And after that — I’m sorry…” Alex said, unable to continue.

Alex started to scream,” his friend told ABC News, adding that Alex tried to grab his hand. The friend spoke about the attack on the condition that his name be kept secret because he still lives in Dubai and fears retaliation.

“I was very afraid,” said the friend. “I thought they wanted to kill me, me and Alex. So it was like the last minute of my life I was living.”

Desperate for help, Alex says he tried to call 999 — Dubai’s version of 911 — on his cell phone.

The local teen who brought them to the car overheard the police respond to the call, Alex says, and grabbed for the phone.

“I had the phone in my hands, I was screaming and shouting for help,” said Alex. “He took my phone and he was hitting me. I started screaming and crying.”

‘I’m Gonna Kill You’

“He was saying, ‘I’m gonna kill you, your mother, father. I know where you live. Don’t do that any more,’” recalled his friend.

“He said to me right in the eyes, right in the eyes that if I, if I speak about this one day, he knows where I live, he’ll go to my house, he’ll burn my house, he’ll kill my parents, he’ll f*** them and he’ll burn them,” Alex said. “And it was hard.”

“They will not touch us. Don’t worry about that, it’s done,” said Veronique. “They will pay for that, they will pay for that.”

As dusk settled in the desert, the friend says he was forced to walk behind a sand dune, where he couldn’t see or hear anything. That’s when Alex says the 36-year-old driver threatened his life.

“He took out a pool stick and a hunting knife. He told me that he wanted to f*** me and I told him no way, I told him this, you can forget about it. I won’t let you touch me, I won’t let you. And after this, I had no choice.”

When he finished, the teenager who had first offered them the ride came back to the car, Alex says. “I told them, ‘Listen, if you’re going to kill us, just let me use my phone, just give me back my phone and let me, let me call my family, I won’t tell them where I am, I’ll talk in English, I won’t tell them what’s happening, but just…if you’re going to kill me, just let me call them, tell them that I love them or something, just let me do this,” said Alex.” And they keep telling us to shut up.”

In the end their salvation may have turned on something as simple as sand. Alex says the attackers’ car got stuck and they had to call a relative, who drove to the scene.

“I got my head up and I saw this plate number…I still remember it today,” said Alex. “And I think this, this plate saved my life.”

‘Homosexuality Is An Illegal Act’

Instead of killing them, Alex says their attackers brought them to one of Dubai’s luxurious hotels, where they were thrown out of the car.

“They pushed us like, like we were nothing, you know, like if we were bags,” he said.
Alex says he felt dizzy and passed out. He had survived a violent rape that could happen anywhere in the world, but the legal nightmare ahead would turn out to be a second tragedy, he says.

After the attackers left them on the curb Alex and his friend went to the first safe place they could think of.

They took a taxi to a local shopping mall, hid in the bathroom, and called for help.

They immediately reported the crime, going in person to the local police station. But Alex says the police doctor who examined him that night seemed intent on proving there was no rape, just a consensual sexual act between three men and a 15 year-old gay boy.

“He told me, admit it, you are a homosexual and everything,” said Alex. “I got really angry, I told him, ‘Listen, I just got raped by three guys.’”

And perhaps more damaging to Alex’s case, the doctor asserts the examination “showed a history” of homosexual activity, according to the doctor’s report obtained by ABC News and translated from the original Arabic.

“In their minds if I admit that I am a homosexual, the crime would be over, everything would be over,” Alex believed.

Moreover, Veronique Robert says police and local authorities failed to tell Alex that one of the men was HIV positive for weeks after they learned of it.

Alex has so far tested negative for the AIDS virus. However, he can’t know for sure until January, since the virus needs six months for definitive test results.

“I have to wait until January, and in January I’ll know, so I cross fingers and I hope,” he said.

Veronique Robert says the Dubai authorities twice assured there was no threat of sexually transmitted disease, even though there was a report identifying one of the attackers as being HIV positive in government files for years.

“I’m so furious, I cannot tell you how I’m furious, you know, and I said why they lie, they just play with the life of Alex,” said Veronique Robert.

The Case Against Alex

Homosexuality is against the law in the UAE, where anyone found guilty of sodomy faces years in jail.

The Dubai government denies that the doctor accused Alex of being gay or that he was ever at risk of being charged with homosexuality. But Robert Jongeryck, the French consul, was so worried a case was being built against Alex as an illegal homosexual he advised the boy and his mother to flee Dubai before he was arrested.

“I think that if we had not reacted and asked the authorities to do something, probably Alexandre would have been charged,” said Jongeryck.
A Victorian Value System?

Arab-American psychiatrist Dr. Raymond Hamden works in the Dubai courts and says it’s important for foreigners to remember that while everything looks modern there, it is a young, developing city.

It’s no different than were we in America were a hundred years ago, right after or during the end of the Victorian era,” said Hamden. “Even though we are seeing globalization, in the city that has defined globalization, were still seeing a value system that still looks like new Victorians.”

Dr. Habib al-Mulla, an attorney and government spokesman, defends the social conservatism that makes homosexuality a crime in Dubai.

“Every country and every culture has…its own values, its own morals, and the laws and legislations reflect the way every society looks at those morals,” Al-Mulla said.

“This is a conservative society. Homosexuality, conducted homosexuality is an illegal act. And we are not ashamed of that.”

“So, when you invite people to come [to Dubai], are you inviting everyone but homosexuals?” ABC News’ Jim Avila asked the spokesman.

“Everyone is more than welcomed to come,” said al-Mulla. “However, no one is welcome to commit any illegal activity.”

In an environment where homosexuality is a crime, can a victim of “forcible homosexuality,” as the law calls it, be treated fairly under the law?

The trial is big news in Dubai.

The two adult defendants, both of whom faced the death penalty, have denied all charges. Veronique Robert says she was in juvenile court — closed to the press — when the local boy who first led Alex and his friend into the car pled guilty to charges of kidnapping, threatening, and rape. Because he is a minor he does not face execution.

“I’m sure the court will deal with this [verdict] in a fair and reasonable manner,” said government spokesman Al-Mulla, leaving open the possibility that what happened to Alex would lead to some reforms in the handling of rape cases.

“We will look into the system, we’ll see if there was anything deficient. And if we believe that there is any room for…improvement in that system of course we’ll do that.”

Armed with the promise that he would not be prosecuted, Alex returned to Dubai to testify against his alleged attackers, a moment he will never forget.

“You could read it in their eyes, they were saying like, if we go out, if we find you, my God, poor kid, run for your life, run for your life, if we get you, you’re dead,” he said.

Veronique Robert relentlessly warns anyone who will listen not to go to Dubai expecting a world-class justice system.
She has even created a Web site called http://www.boycottdubai.com/ designed to hit the emirate where it hurts — in the carefully cultivated image put forth to tourists and visitors.

“A part of me is really sad,” she said. “I was loving Dubai, I was loving to come here to visit my child, [to] go to the beach with Alex…seven years of my life…it’s gone. I think I will not come here…I will never see Dubai with the same eyes.”

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

Interpol – Money laundry – Malika worked for Define Properties in Dubai – ACI – Niki Lauda Towers

original published:http://www.revu.nl/12499.Ex-spionne%20Malika%20K.%20staat%20op%20straat

original translated by google: http://translate.google.com/translate?sourceid=navclient&hl=en&u=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2erevu%2enl%2f12499%2eEx%2dspionne%2520Malika%2520K%2e%2520staat%2520op%2520straat Malika K., the Moroccan ‘Mata Hari’ from Slotervaart, is dismissed by her company Define Properties in Dubai. It says the director of the company Tarek Kandil in an e-mail. Last week showed that he still Kandil, Malika had suspended “pending the investigation into the allegations” which in his opinion firm were unfounded. . Under pressure from intelligence Kandil has drawn a different conclusion, the work is finally dissolved Monday. Malika’s lawyer mr CMJ Zillikens confirmed yesterday morning in each case the suspension against Revu. According Zillikens the suspension is the result of a “defamation campaign from the Netherlands.” ” “We see what the consequences are,” says Zillikens, it aimed at the continuing online publications of former police officer and private detective Jacques Smits, who was hired by her ex in an attempt to control their son back. Kandil has threatened with legal action if he does not stop with publications about the company. Zillikens together with criminal lawyer Han Jahae last week spoorslags traveled to Dubai. What it wants is discussed Zillikens not say, except that it is a “good trip” and there was more news will soon follow. Malika worked until March of this year by property developer Omniyat Properties. Since she was fired when the company informed brought her back. Smits knew that include telling customers to Omniyat Malika by referring to

Tarek Kandil, an Egyptian who has just started Define Properties.

Kandil had worked for Omniyat, but was fired for unclear reason, as sources tell Revu. Tarek Kandil then dove at Schon Properties, responsible for projects such as Dubai Lagoon and Schon Business Park. The company became discredited because of the various construction projects but did not want rafts and investors suspected that they were taken by the nose. Tarek Kandil to Define Schon left to be examined.

Define Malika has for almost all funds governed by an Egyptian dealer who they already knew, sources tell Revu. Her resignation means to Define also possible that her visa will be revoked and they will have to leave Dubai. In May, the full bench that her 8-year-old son back to the father in the Netherlands, but Malika opposes the extradition of the child. Whether there is a relationship with the custody dispute is not clear, but her ex-husband Mohammed B., owner of an Amsterdam reiswinkel was last Friday when he robbed money and passports of over four hundred customers to airline Royal Jordanian would bring. The robbers have the vault with all the money and a few hundred passports taken. The location of the incident is a massacre, according to eyewitnesses. The two predators would firmly establish the name of Malika have said. The shop was closed Monday. “This is the end of his shop,” says a friend who for years assisted Mohammed state. “We were all scared for a long time that this would happen.” Mohammed B. has many times against Malika declaration made threats and violence, but her lawyers say that the stories B. sucks his thumb to prevent Malika her child in Dubai may hold. Jan Libbenga Jan Libbenga Malika werkte voor inlichtingen én criminelen Malika worked for intelligence and criminals Malika K. Malika K. duikt op in Dubai shows up in Dubai Malika naar Dubai door wangedrag ex-man Malika to Dubai misconduct by ex-husband Wordt Malika K. Is Malika K. uitgeleverd? extradited? this is an google translation from the original report:

Malika K., the Moroccan 
'Mata Hari'  from Slotervaart 
 who as a former spionne 
would have earned millions 
 with the laundering of 
dirty  money, 
is reported in Dubai.  
Sources told Revue this weekend that she has an apartment at the Dubai Marina.

She also has a new job. About her residence were several stories in recent weeks the round. So that they heard Revue in June with a false passport would have landed in France and from there to the Netherlands would be brought, but at different addresses in the Netherlands where they could stay observation teams have found nothing. Since Dubai has no extradition treaty with the Netherlands, authorities can no way. Cees Korvinus lawyer, who for many years the interests of Malika’s ex-husband represents in a custody case, early this year has already called for justice for extradition and that following the publication in Revue last week again done. At the time that there was contact with head Interpol in Dubai to take action, the judiciary refused to provide further details. . The prosecutor wrote that they do not know what the situation is. The publications on Malika in Revue, Telegraph and other newspapers have many disconnected.

Define Properties. Sources refused

Revue not only to her home address

but also on the new job of Malika

This brand new property 
developer,Define Properties  
 in Number One Tower on 
Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai 
is largely run by former 
managers  of Omniyat, 
the company 
Malika was dismissed 
on March 16.

Director is Tarek Kandil, formerly sales manager at Omniyat.

The name of Malika is nowhere to be found on the website of the company, but it is to see the photo of the press in early June.

The company says now have a working capital of 500 million Dirham, and would have bought land sales worth 1.7 billion Dirham. . The main project is the construction of the Nikki Lauda Twin Towers, which should be completed in 2010. . Director Kandil promised opposite business magazine Business Emirates’ Define that no building plans launches as they do not actually completed, it aimed at the many fraud cases so slowly that Dubai is a very bad name have worried. Supervisor Real Estate Regulatory Agency (Rera) currently doing research on mala fide developers who buy contracts sell many occasions, with no other purpose than to fat profits to gather. . Some of these developers are even funded with money arms from Egypt. Middlemen purchase contracts let criminals’ pre launch ‘on the basis of the beautiful building plans and models,” Frank knows Englishman of Ultra Scan, a Dutch agency that specializes in financial fraud cases. It is a pyramid game that once burst out. ” Damac blies het zogenoemde Palm Springs-project af toen bleek dat men niet eens beschikte over bouwgrond. Certainly eighty investors have from England earlier this year from Dubai developer Damac Properties put under pressure because the luxury apartments were sold but not delivered, even stronger: Damac blew the so-called Palm Springs project off when it became clear that not even available on plot . . Later that was again denied and the company will now still six months to the construction to begin. In June unveiled the Egyptian Telegraph – El Fagr (The Dawn) – in a page article filled an even bigger scandal surrounding a 30 million-acre area covered by the denominator Gamsha Bay to the Red Sea Riviera in Egypt by Damac would be developed as a vacation area. Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif was at the presentation in 2006 and since then there have been 100 million euros to purchase contracts signed. Until various ministries in Egypt peril smoking: the area contains mines, there is oil under and is not suitable for human habitation. Indeed, this area is no formal ownership of Damac. Malika K. diverted, while they worked for rival Omniyat, (criminal) to customers Damac, which they 8-9 percent commission was, according to intelligence data. Piquant detail is Damac El Fagr according to former agents of the secret service as sellers had hired. During his investigation into possible investment frauds of Palm Invest private detective Englishman has an account code detected by Malika at Credit Suisse in Lugano, which they used for money laundering. From this account would be tens of millions of dollars were transferred to Dubai. At Schiphol by the Royal Military Police on August 16 arrested again a money courier who claims that he works for Malika. The man flew from Amsterdam to Milan and from there would go to Dubai. . The Royal Military Police would like this against Revu not confirm. We do not have communications arrested persons, unless we come out themselves.” The arrest of a Turkish money courier in October 2007 was for intelligence agencies to cause great alarm to save on their ‘Malika’. They had to investigate suspicious money flows in the fight against international terrorism, but showed itself at the center of this network are. Jan Libbenga also http://www.revu.nl/12003 http://translate.google.com/translate?sourceid=navclient&hl=en&u=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2erevu%2enl%2f12003

International intelligence agencies and criminals are hunting the

32-year old Malika K., a Dutch infiltrators on the wrong side of the

line landed, and that during her work for intelligence agencies grew

into a broker in criminal relations.

The Amsterdam of Moroccan descent is suspected from its place of Dubai international drug shipments to finance and facilitate, including XTC-Dutch merchants. According to rough estimates in recent years, there were more than 100 million euros through her hands. Many criminals showed their traditional money laundering addresses in the lurch for Malika K.. Attempts to her earlier this year failed to hold. Malika M. is wanted for money laundering, fraud, receiving stolen goods, arson, kidnapping and the commission for liquidation.

http://fraudconstructions.wordpress.com/about/

No slowdown in corruption fight – The National Newspaper

No slowdown in corruption fight – The National Newspaper:

Sarmad Khan
Last Updated: September 21. 2008 10:33PM UAE / September 21. 2008 6:33PM GMT

Even as Dubai’s business and financial community works to steady its ship in stormy international markets, the emirate continues to struggle with a series of internal corruption investigations likely to shape its economic trajectory at least as much over time.The global financial and equities meltdown has raised some questions about the solidity of the country’s financial and property markets. But whatever the near-term consequences, the persistent investigations underscore that fighting corruption remains a priority. “It’s a process you can’t reverse or slow down, whatever the consequences,” said Mohammed Ali Yasin, the managing director of Shuaa Securities. “Now is as good a time as any to root out corruption and finish what Dubai has started. The long-term benefits outweigh the damage the anti-corruption drive could do in the short-term.”

Dubai’s business community started hearing the reports of alleged corruption and financial misdeeds in some of biggest listed and private financial and real estate companies in April. Media broke the news that Zack Shahin, the former chief executive of the property firm Deyaar Development, had been in jail for weeks, the subject of a corruption investigation. A series of arrests since then have highlighted the underdeveloped regulatory system, an unwillingness of corporations to share information and a hush-hush approach of investigators – all of which have kept observers and investors guessing about the actual nature of alleged wrongdoing and how the bottom lines of the firms may be affected.

Yet there also appears to be a determined effort to begin addressing some of the shortcomings that have been exposed. Arrests have included chief executives of finance, mortgage and real estate firms, owners of property projects and advertising firms, private investors, top bankers, middle managers and sales executives. The message was loud and clear when the media office of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, released a Public Prosecution statement saying that “fighting corruption is at the top of the [Dubai] Government’s priorities”. The unusual public statement was the first acknowledgement that the Dubai authorities were conducting a co-ordinated series of investigations aimed at alleged white-collar financial improprieties.

Dubai has been trying to leverage its geographical location to set up a financial centre that would bridge established financial hubs in western and Asian regions. However, corporate governance, compliance, transparency, arbitration regulations, and timely and accurate disclosures are some of the stumbling blocks that have prevented Dubai from so far rivalling some of the more transparently regulated financial hubs such as New York, London and Singapore.

The deficiencies revealed by the long-running investigations so far are occurring on three fronts: internal controls, transparency and follow-through. While almost no information has been revealed concerning the details of any alleged wrongdoing, the range of companies and executives that have been swept up in the allegations has raised questions about control over and monitoring of operations. “It is really shocking why internal and external auditors could not detect what, in some cases, had been going on for months the companies,” said Wadah Taha, a senior Dubai-based analyst. “So many investigations only suggest that the internal and external auditor have not been par excellence.”

Mr Yasin said auditors, or the lack of forcefulness displayed by them, may explain some of the problems. “Auditors need to be reminded [that] they are employed by the shareholders to protect their interest,” he said. “The board pays the cheque but that does not mean they [the auditors] have loyalty with the board,” he said. According to Mr Taha, if the standards of auditing were high enough, a lot of what has surfaced could have been prevented. “They should be changing auditors every two or three years.”

Deyaar kept its investors in the dark about the investigation for almost two weeks and did not inform the Dubai Financial Market, where its shares are traded. The Dubai Islamic Bank, the country’s largest and oldest Islamic bank, was the next to be investigated, followed by Tamweel, the private property developer Sama Dubai and state-controlled Nakheel – and all kept information away from the public for periods of time.

The most high-profile arrests so far are those of Adel al Shirawi, the former chief executive of Tamweel, and Feras Kalthoum, the former head of finance of Tamweel, which kept the news of its former top executives out of the market for more than a week. Tamweel did the same when its deputy chief executive, Abdullah Nasser Abdullah, was arrested earlier this month and waited for the media to break the news instead of informing its own shareholders.

Gulfnews: Burj Al Arab should have protected son, parents say

Gulfnews: Burj Al Arab should have protected son, parents say

By Bassam Za’za’, Senior ReporterPublished: September 12, 2008, 00:30

Dubai:

The family of a jeweller who was killed in a fight at Burj Al Arab in 2006, is suing the hotel for failing to save their son due to negligence.

The Dubai Civil Court is studying the lawsuit filed by the parents of Syrian jeweller R.A.S. who claimed that proper care could have saved his life, Gulf News as learnt.
The jeweller was 31 when he died.

Dubai Police earlier said R.A.S. died in a fight in a room at the Burj Al Arab where he and his 30-year-old compatriot, A.J.N., had gone to sell diamonds worth $255,000 (Dh935,850) to a group of Russian businessmen.

The victim’s successors, his father and mother, claimed in their lawsuit that a Kazakh woman, Z., and a European man, A.L., escorted their son and A.J.N. to the hotel to sell some diamonds to a Russian group on September 26, 2006.

The claimants alleged that a Russian man, M., who had rented a room in the hotel, received R.A.S., A.J.N. and their escorts. Two other men were also present in the room.

The claimants said in their lawsuit it was strange that M. received the victim in a room – that had five persons – and not at the high-security hotel lobby.

The security personnel and members of the hotel staff should have rendered proper help and assistance to their son, the father and mother alleged in their lawsuit.

They also claimed that M. had paid around $300 (about Dh1,100) and deposited a photocopy of his passport with the hotel staff when he checked in. “An elite hotel with high international standards should have accepted an original identity from M. and should have charged him more for the room.”
‘Proper compensation’

“His death has brought us financial and moral loss. He used to be the family’s sole breadwinner. But for the hotel staff’s negligence and lack of promptness in carrying out their job properly, our son could have been alive. We leave it to the court to decide on the proper compensation amount for our loss,” the claimant’s said in their lawsuit.

During Wednesday’s hearing, the Dubai Civil Court ordered the claimants to submit proper documentation to prove they were the successors of R.A.S. The court adjourned the proceedings till October 5.

Burj Al Arab’s legal representatives are expected to submit their legal response to the case soon.

Dubai Public Prosecution had earlier discharged a Kazakh woman and a Russian man of being involved in R.A.S.’s murder for lack of corroborative evidence.

The culprits are still at large.

read also Archive 2006:

Report 2006 GulfNews:

http://dubai7stars.blogspot.com/2008/01/members-of-gang-held-for-murder-at.html

Gulfnews: Burj Al Arab should have protected son, parents say

Gulfnews: Burj Al Arab should have protected son, parents say

By Bassam Za’za’, Senior ReporterPublished: September 12, 2008, 00:30

Dubai:

The family of a jeweller who was killed in a fight at Burj Al Arab in 2006, is suing the hotel for failing to save their son due to negligence.

The Dubai Civil Court is studying the lawsuit filed by the parents of Syrian jeweller R.A.S. who claimed that proper care could have saved his life, Gulf News as learnt.
The jeweller was 31 when he died.

Dubai Police earlier said R.A.S. died in a fight in a room at the Burj Al Arab where he and his 30-year-old compatriot, A.J.N., had gone to sell diamonds worth $255,000 (Dh935,850) to a group of Russian businessmen.

The victim’s successors, his father and mother, claimed in their lawsuit that a Kazakh woman, Z., and a European man, A.L., escorted their son and A.J.N. to the hotel to sell some diamonds to a Russian group on September 26, 2006.

The claimants alleged that a Russian man, M., who had rented a room in the hotel, received R.A.S., A.J.N. and their escorts. Two other men were also present in the room.

The claimants said in their lawsuit it was strange that M. received the victim in a room – that had five persons – and not at the high-security hotel lobby.

The security personnel and members of the hotel staff should have rendered proper help and assistance to their son, the father and mother alleged in their lawsuit.

They also claimed that M. had paid around $300 (about Dh1,100) and deposited a photocopy of his passport with the hotel staff when he checked in. “An elite hotel with high international standards should have accepted an original identity from M. and should have charged him more for the room.”
‘Proper compensation’

“His death has brought us financial and moral loss. He used to be the family’s sole breadwinner. But for the hotel staff’s negligence and lack of promptness in carrying out their job properly, our son could have been alive. We leave it to the court to decide on the proper compensation amount for our loss,” the claimant’s said in their lawsuit.

During Wednesday’s hearing, the Dubai Civil Court ordered the claimants to submit proper documentation to prove they were the successors of R.A.S. The court adjourned the proceedings till October 5.

Burj Al Arab’s legal representatives are expected to submit their legal response to the case soon.

Dubai Public Prosecution had earlier discharged a Kazakh woman and a Russian man of being involved in R.A.S.’s murder for lack of corroborative evidence.

The culprits are still at large.

read also Archive 2006:

Report 2006 GulfNews:

http://dubai7stars.blogspot.com/2008/01/members-of-gang-held-for-murder-at.html

Update Gulfnews: Prime suspect denies killing Suzan Tamim

SGulfnews: Prime suspect denies killing Suzan Tamim

By Dina Aboul Hosn, Staff Reporter Published: September 12, 2008, 00:30

Dubai: Mohsen Al Sukkari, the main suspect in the murder of Lebanese singer Suzan Tamim, has denied killing her, although he admitted to receiving $2 million (Dh7.3 million) as a price for his silence, according to his lawyer. “My client followed Suzan in London and went to her house in Dubai but not on the day she was killed, which is shown in the footage caught by the security cameras,” advocate Anees Atef Al Mennawi said while addressing members of the Arabic press. Change of plan Al Sukkari said he went to Suzan’s apartment to frame her in a drug case in accordance with a deal he made with Egyptian tycoon Hesham Tala’at Mustafa, who was charged with paying for the murder. Al Sukkari was supposed to plant drugs in Suzan’s apartment by presenting her a photo frame that was filled with narcotics. He told interrogators he had shown Mustafa the photo frame, in which he had provided a hidden groove for the drugs, but said he did not stick to the plan. He said investigators had found the frame but without the drugs. Asked why he had still accepted money from Mustafa, Al Sukkari, a former police officer, said he had sought the $2 million to remain silent because he was the only one in the know of Mustafa’s involvement in Suzan’s murder. “I don’t know who killed her. What I know is that Mustafa has agreements with other people in this regard,” he said. Al Mennawi told the Al Sharq Al Awsat Arabic newspaper his client had never admitted to buying the knife used in the murder. “He bought many things, including a small Swiss knife, which is not very sharp and comes with tools other than the knife,” he said. Money in the bank Al Sukkari also told interrogators that one of the reasons Mustafa wanted to kill Suzan was that he had money in her bank accounts and all his attempts to freeze her accounts had been in vain. The lawyer said the clothes found with blood stains on them did not belong to his client, and that the security cameras had caught him wearing different clothes when he entered. He also sought to put a lid on rumours that his client had contemplated suicide, saying “he is not a criminal”.

Update Gulfnews: Prime suspect denies killing Suzan Tamim

SGulfnews: Prime suspect denies killing Suzan Tamim

By Dina Aboul Hosn, Staff Reporter Published: September 12, 2008, 00:30

Dubai: Mohsen Al Sukkari, the main suspect in the murder of Lebanese singer Suzan Tamim, has denied killing her, although he admitted to receiving $2 million (Dh7.3 million) as a price for his silence, according to his lawyer. “My client followed Suzan in London and went to her house in Dubai but not on the day she was killed, which is shown in the footage caught by the security cameras,” advocate Anees Atef Al Mennawi said while addressing members of the Arabic press. Change of plan Al Sukkari said he went to Suzan’s apartment to frame her in a drug case in accordance with a deal he made with Egyptian tycoon Hesham Tala’at Mustafa, who was charged with paying for the murder. Al Sukkari was supposed to plant drugs in Suzan’s apartment by presenting her a photo frame that was filled with narcotics. He told interrogators he had shown Mustafa the photo frame, in which he had provided a hidden groove for the drugs, but said he did not stick to the plan. He said investigators had found the frame but without the drugs. Asked why he had still accepted money from Mustafa, Al Sukkari, a former police officer, said he had sought the $2 million to remain silent because he was the only one in the know of Mustafa’s involvement in Suzan’s murder. “I don’t know who killed her. What I know is that Mustafa has agreements with other people in this regard,” he said. Al Mennawi told the Al Sharq Al Awsat Arabic newspaper his client had never admitted to buying the knife used in the murder. “He bought many things, including a small Swiss knife, which is not very sharp and comes with tools other than the knife,” he said. Money in the bank Al Sukkari also told interrogators that one of the reasons Mustafa wanted to kill Suzan was that he had money in her bank accounts and all his attempts to freeze her accounts had been in vain. The lawyer said the clothes found with blood stains on them did not belong to his client, and that the security cameras had caught him wearing different clothes when he entered. He also sought to put a lid on rumours that his client had contemplated suicide, saying “he is not a criminal”.

‘Marry me for $50m or you’re dead’

original published:

zawya

http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidZAWYA20080908091342

08 September 2008

The husband of a pop diva found stabbed to death claims London police failed to act

The husband of a murdered pop diva has spoken for the first time of how she feared she would be killed by a professional hitman, allegedly hired by her former lover.

Riyadh Alazzawi has told The Sunday Times that police in London were warned of the threats to his wife, Suzanne Tamim, but failed to act. The couple spent 18 months in London living in fear.
“I was there to protect her, but was doing it all by myself,” claimed Alazzawi. “I didn’t get any help.” He said his wife’s former lover had offered Tamim $50m (about £28m) to lure her away and threatened to pay $1m to have her killed if she refused.

Alazzawi met Tamim, a beautiful Lebanese singer, in Harrods two years ago. She was already receiving some threats to her life and he, a world kickboxing champion, had offered to help protect her. The couple became close and married last year.

Six weeks ago, however, Tamim was murdered while on a visit to Dubai: she suffered multiple stab wounds and had her throat slit. Prosecutors have charged a prominent Egyptian MP and business tycoon with arranging to pay a hitman £1m to travel to Dubai and kill her. Both men may face the death penalty if convicted.

The case has caused a sensation in the Arab media with its insight into the world of Middle Eastern celebrity, power, intrigue and revenge.

This weekend Alazzawi revealed how he and Tamim were routinely followed, harassed and subjected to a series of telephone threats while living in London. He believed the threats came from the Egyptian tycoon Hisham Talaat Mustafa, who had previously had an affair with Tamim, and men who said they were acting on Talaat’s behalf.

“Suzanne told me that he had phoned her and said that if she left me and went to marry him he would pay her $50m. He then said that if she refused he would then kill her with $1m,” said Alazzawi.

On another occasion, Alazzawi alleged that Talaat had phoned him at the couple’s flat in Knightsbridge. “He said forget about this girl. I’ll kill her and kill you if you don’t give me the girl.” Later Alazzawi claimed he was telephoned by a man who said he had been sent to Britain by Talaat to shoot him.

In a statement to his lawyer, Shahrokh Mireskandari, made five months before Tamim’s murder, Alazzawi said: “The hitman explained he had been sent to this country especially to kill [me]. He said he was not on his own but part of a big team of people working on this.

“The hitman explained that the only reason he was doing this job was because he had been paid £50,000 already and would be paid more money after the shooting.” The alleged assassin said he had tipped off Alazzawi because he had decided not to carry out the murder.

According to Alazzawi, the couple reported these threats to the Metropolitan police. They provided officers with a tape recording of several of the telephone threats, including one from the alleged hitman.

Officers arranged for them to have a panic alarm installed, and told them to keep in regular touch. But otherwise, Alazzawi claimed, they failed to act decisively on the information by warning off Talaat.

“Suzanne went to see the police officer dealing with the case,” said Alazzawi. “She told her: ‘Today I’m alive, tomorrow I may be dead. Why can’t you help me?’ The officer responded by stating that Talaat was a senior government figure in Egypt.”

Tamim rose to fame after winning a talent competition in Lebanon in 1996. Her career, which included several successful albums, was later overshadowed by a troubled private life that included two divorces.

She had an affair with Talaat but moved to London after the couple went through a bitter separation. Talaat tried unsuccessfully to sue her in a Geneva court earlier this year for the return of millions of pounds worth of cash and gifts he claimed to have given her.

On July 28 she was found dead at the age of 30 at the luxury apartment she owned with Alazzawi in Dubai. She had multiple stab wounds and an 8in slash across her throat which almost decapitated her.

According to the indictment by the Egyptian public prosecutor, a former police officer, Muhsen el-Sukkari, killed Tamim after tricking her into opening the front door by posing as a representative of the building’s owners. “He then laid into her with the knife . . . cutting her main arteries and her trachea.”

Dubai investigators say that after the attack, el-Sukkari dumped the overalls and cap he had been wearing in a rubbish bin outside the building. They were found by police and tested for DNA. Police say the alleged killer’s face also appeared on security camera footage.

The indictment alleges the murder “was on the instigation of the second defendant [Talaat] in return for obtaining from him the sum of $2m for committing this crime”.

It states that Talaat “took part through incitement, agreement and assistance with the first defendant in killing the victim in revenge”.

The high-profile murder was an embarrassment for the Dubai authorities, who have been trying to clean up their country’s image to attract western businesses. The emirate has recently cracked down on tourists going topless on beaches and launched a public anti-corruption campaign.

El-Sukkari was arrested on August 6 in Egypt. Tapes of alleged phone conversations kept by el-Sukkari and seized by police led them to Talaat.

In one, a man said to be Talaat says: “The agreed amount is ready.” He tells el-Sukkari: “Tomorrow she is in London, you should act.”

In a later tape, el-Sukkari explains he missed his chance in London and “will wait to move it to Dubai”. Talaat allegedly chides him and says: “Okay, let’s finish with this.”

Prosecutors said that el- Sukkari then followed her from London to Dubai, where he bought a knife to kill her.

Talaat has denied any part in the murder and his lawyers say they will challenge the tapes.
Egyptian media reports have said that el-Sukkari worked as a security officer at the Four Seasons hotel in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, built by the Talaat Mustafa Group, which is owned by Talaat.

The company specialises in luxury hotels and beach resorts and has been a leading force in building western-style suburbs ringing Cairo. Prosecutors say that el-Sukkari confessed to his involvement soon after he was arrested and implicated Talaat in the crime.

As well as being one of the country’s wealthiest businessmen, Talaat has immense political

influence. He is a stalwart of the ruling National Democratic party and a member of the Shura Council, the country’s upper house of parliament. He is said to be close to President Hosni Mubarak’s son and heir apparent, Gamal.

When his name surfaced in the Egyptian media as a suspect, Talaat denied any involvement. But he was stripped of his parliamentary immunity, arrested and charged last week after the Dubai police handed over their file on the case to the authorities in Cairo. Shares in his company fell 16% on reports of the indictment.

A spokesman for Scotland Yard said allegations it had received were investigated, and no criminal offence within its jurisdiction had emerged. Alazzawi said detectives had recently taken a statement. “They told me the murder had happened abroad,” he said. “But this case began in London.”

He is distraught about his wife’s death. “I’m angry that I lost her. I was there to protect her but I was doing it all by myself. I didn’t get any help from anybody. I did my best. But for five days she went to Dubai without me and look what happened.”

By David Leppard

© The Times News Service 2008

It’s going to be an uncomfortable summer for those without a clear conscience

original published Arabian Business
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=528460&newsletter=1

White-collar crime rarely captures the imagination as easily as its garden-variety counterparts.It seems you have to bring down a bank, hide billion-dollar losses or at least plunder a pension plan in order to secure column inches alongside the murder du jour.

Part of the reason is in the telling – after all, it’s unfortunately far easier to picture a grisly death, than it is to follow how the judicious use of special purpose entities might scupper a $111bn energy giant, or how one city whiz-kid with delusions of grandeur could blindside a 144 year-old Swiss bank with an alleged $75bn in unauthorised trades.

However, the summer of 2008 will be keenly remembered for a string of high-profile investigations into alleged financial irregularities by senior executives at both Dubai Government-owned and private entities.

If the public prosecutor’s suspicions are proved accurate, then His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s drive for transparency – which is to be applauded – will have claimed its first scalps.

The summer of summonses began in April, and the announcement of probes into the activities of individuals at Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) and its affiliate Deyaar.DIB’s former vice president for finance structure, Rifaat Othmani, was arrested as part of a fraud investigation on June 5. He and several other former members of DIB staff are being investigated, while the probe also led to the arrest of JPMorgan Chase’s senior country officer for the UAE, Omair Mooraj.At development firm Deyaar, meanwhile, four people have been arrested as part of a police investigation into alleged embezzlement.

Those hauled in include Deyaar’s former CEO, Zack Shahin, who has since maintained his innocence.Ever since the DIB and Deyaar investigations were made public, rumours have run rife that a host of other high-profile figures were also in the firing line. It has been a summer of ‘when’, not ‘if’, and so it came as no surprise when more arrests were announced last week.

First to be named was Adel Al Shirawi, the former CEO of mortgage giant Tamweel, and now vice chairman of state-owned Istithmar World PJSC. His former head of investments Feras Kalthoum is under the microscope too.

Down the road at Dubai Government-owned developer Nakheel, general manager of sales Walid Al Jaziri and former Nakheel executive Karim Masaad have also been arrested.

We can be sure that the public prosecutor’s office is not done yet. Amid tales of tender-rigging, bribery and profit skimming, the government is steadily making its way down a list of names, and circling those unable to balance the books or account for their lavish lifestyles.

This week, sources told Arabian Business that the CEOs of at least two other Dubai development majors – between them responsible for a completed project portfolio worth over $100bn – are currently the subject of CID probes.

It’s going to be an uncomfortable summer for those without a clear conscience.

Andrew White is the deputy editor of Arabian Business English

It’s going to be an uncomfortable summer for those without a clear conscience

original published Arabian Business
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=528460&newsletter=1

White-collar crime rarely captures the imagination as easily as its garden-variety counterparts.It seems you have to bring down a bank, hide billion-dollar losses or at least plunder a pension plan in order to secure column inches alongside the murder du jour.

Part of the reason is in the telling – after all, it’s unfortunately far easier to picture a grisly death, than it is to follow how the judicious use of special purpose entities might scupper a $111bn energy giant, or how one city whiz-kid with delusions of grandeur could blindside a 144 year-old Swiss bank with an alleged $75bn in unauthorised trades.

However, the summer of 2008 will be keenly remembered for a string of high-profile investigations into alleged financial irregularities by senior executives at both Dubai Government-owned and private entities.

If the public prosecutor’s suspicions are proved accurate, then His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s drive for transparency – which is to be applauded – will have claimed its first scalps.

The summer of summonses began in April, and the announcement of probes into the activities of individuals at Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) and its affiliate Deyaar.DIB’s former vice president for finance structure, Rifaat Othmani, was arrested as part of a fraud investigation on June 5. He and several other former members of DIB staff are being investigated, while the probe also led to the arrest of JPMorgan Chase’s senior country officer for the UAE, Omair Mooraj.At development firm Deyaar, meanwhile, four people have been arrested as part of a police investigation into alleged embezzlement.

Those hauled in include Deyaar’s former CEO, Zack Shahin, who has since maintained his innocence.Ever since the DIB and Deyaar investigations were made public, rumours have run rife that a host of other high-profile figures were also in the firing line. It has been a summer of ‘when’, not ‘if’, and so it came as no surprise when more arrests were announced last week.

First to be named was Adel Al Shirawi, the former CEO of mortgage giant Tamweel, and now vice chairman of state-owned Istithmar World PJSC. His former head of investments Feras Kalthoum is under the microscope too.

Down the road at Dubai Government-owned developer Nakheel, general manager of sales Walid Al Jaziri and former Nakheel executive Karim Masaad have also been arrested.

We can be sure that the public prosecutor’s office is not done yet. Amid tales of tender-rigging, bribery and profit skimming, the government is steadily making its way down a list of names, and circling those unable to balance the books or account for their lavish lifestyles.

This week, sources told Arabian Business that the CEOs of at least two other Dubai development majors – between them responsible for a completed project portfolio worth over $100bn – are currently the subject of CID probes.

It’s going to be an uncomfortable summer for those without a clear conscience.

Andrew White is the deputy editor of Arabian Business English

Gulfnews: Suzan Tamim murder ‘took 12 minutes’

Gulfnews: Suzan Tamim murder ‘took 12 minutes’:

“Suzan Tamim murder ‘took 12 minutes’ Suzan Tamim murder ‘took 12 minutes’”

By Maysam Ali, Staff ReporterPublished: August 10, 2008, 23:49
Dubai: Five hours after Dubai Police were informed of Lebanese singer Suzan Tamim’s death, the suspected killer, a 39-year-old Arab national, was identified, said a senior police official.
“It took 12 minutes for the murderer to enter the building, kill the victim and leave,” Major General Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina, Acting Chief of Dubai Police told a press conference on Sunday in Dubai.
“The murder was premeditated and the planning was cunning and highly professional,” Al Mazeina said.
He said the suspect was arrested in an Arab country three days after the crime took place. He hinted the motive might have been revenge as there was no evidence in the apartment to indicate otherwise.

The singer was murdered in her apartment in Jumeirah Beach Residence on July 28. The police found her body later that evening, several hours after the incident was reported.
Al Mazeina said: “Tamim had a driving test scheduled the morning when she was killed. She had ordered a taxi to meet her under her building at 9am in order to take her to the driving institute. The taxi driver called her several times but she neither answered nor did she meet him.

“This suggests she was killed before 9am.”

The singer was found fully dressed and ready to leave the house. The murderer had managed to pass through the building’s security without being asked for identification.

In order to convince Tamim to let him into her apartment, he showed her, through the building’s video intercom, an envelope showing the logo of the real estate company which had recently sold her the apartment she was residing in. Police said in all probability this was the reason that made her open the door for him.

One and half hours after the crime was committed, the suspect left the UAE and headed to another Arab county, which Mazeina refused to name.
However, some reports suggested the accused was Egyptian. A police source contacted by Gulf News in Cairo said two Egyptians were arrested in connection with the murder.

“The fact is the Prosecutor General has ordered a ban on writing about the case and that the investigations are making progress,” said the police official.

The assassin had walked in wearing two layers of clothes, executed the crime, and then got rid of the clothes in the building. The police found his clothes and used them as evidence.

The morning Tamim was killed, her relatives had been calling her but she did not answer. One of her relatives went to her apartment and found her body lying next to the entrance; the door was open. Her throat was slit with a knife.

There were several feuds between the late singer and people outside the UAE, and this will help identify who it was who wanted Tamim killed, according to police.

Tamim had moved to the UAE in July and bought the apartment 10 days before the crime was committed, police said. Al Mazeina refuted reports that pictures on the building’s security camera led to the suspect’s arrest.

“We had enough and more important evidence in the apartment that led to the identification of the suspect,” he said. The way she was killed further helped narrow down investigations, he added.
Meanwhile, three journalists from a newspaper in Cairo have been referred for questions for violating a ban on publishing a report about investigations with suspects arrested on charges of murdering Tamim. Al Dustour carried a report that two hotel security men from Cairo had confessed to killing her on behalf of an Egyptian client. One said they received $2 million for the job.

Sunday’s edition of the paper disappeared from the market, officials said. The main story on the newspaper’s website has the headline “Is a major Egyptian personality involved in the murder of the Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim?”

Justice: Father’s relief
Abdul Sattar Tamim, Tamim’s father, told Gulf News that he was relieved that the suspect has been arrested. He expressed his gratitude to Dubai Police and said that he was thankful that justice had started to prevail.

“I thank God for the way things are developing. I trust that the result will be positive God willing. I thank Dubai Police for their efficiency,” he told Gulf News.
He refused to comment further as he is currently in a period of grieving and is still receiving mourners.

With additional inputs from Ramdan Abdulkaddar and Bassam Zaza, Senior Reporter

Gulfnews: Slain singer wanted to pursue studies in Cairo – Sent Using Google Toolbar

Gulfnews: Slain singer wanted to pursue studies in Cairo

By Sunita Menon, Staff Reporter Last updated: July 31, 2008, 11:16

Dubai: Suzan Tamim wanted to give up her singing career and pursue studies at the American University in Cairo, said her close friend. Joe Raad, who was also hairdresser of Suzan, the slain singer, was associated with her from 1996. Speaking to Gulf News over the telephone from his salon in Beirut, he said despite the problems that surrounded her personal life Suzan was a feisty woman who knew exactly what she wanted to do in life. “I am shocked to learn that her life came to such a tragic end. She was beautiful and charming. I had been to her house and met her father who was in tears and kept saying aloud that Suzan is all alone and there is no one at her side.” Raad said her father had not seen her for two years and was planning to come to Dubai in a couple of days to take the body back to Beirut. “According to him she had suffered enough while she was alive and does not want the same for her now that he is dead. Her voice still rings in my ears. I spoke to her last month and it was then that she told me about her decision to give up her singing career and pursue her studies. She was just 18 years old when she shot to fame,” said Raad. “She used to confide a lot in me. She used to just telephone me and say ‘Joe I want to talk to someone and so I called you’. From Cairo she moved to London and stayed there with her uncle but had to leave as her visa validity came to an end. One of her reasons to move to Dubai was because she had heard that if she bought a house in Dubai she would be automatically eligible for residency. This I was told by her father who always wanted his daughter back with him in Beirut,” said Raad. “I wanted her to be the face of my salon …. But then I decided to abandon the idea as I did not want to create more trouble than what was already plaguing her,” said Raad. Gulf News learnt that the singer’s mother returned to Beirut just a couple of days before Suzan’s death. Troubled life The late singer Suzan Tamim was not known for being on good terms with people around her. Whether she was just defiant and moody or downright mean will probably remain a mystery. Suzan’s relationship with her father, Abdul Sattar Tamim, was not stable. The two were not on speaking terms when Suzan met her second husband, Adel Matouk, who reconciled them after many attempts. Abdul Sattar then tried to take over the management of his daughter’s activities. He signed her up for some concerts, which did not go well with Matouk, who had signed a 15-year exclusive contract with Suzan. Another incident that further strained the father-daughter relations was the arrest of Abdul Sattar in Cairo Airport in 2004 for possession of heroin, as reported by the Arabic media. He claimed that the watch box, containing the drugs, was given to him by one of Suzan’s friends in Poland as a gift to the singer, and Suzan was called for interrogation. Suzan’s luck with her husbands was not better. When the 19-year-old first appeared on TV in 1996, she was already married to Ali Muzannar, who “took care of her because she was very young”, in her own words. After landing a role in the musical play Gadat Al Kamilia as a substitute to the play’s original star, Lebanese singer Madonna, it seemed that Suzan popularity was rising, but at a cost. Muzannar was not happy with his wife’s newfound fame, and the couple were not on speaking terms. He also refused to divorce her. Suzan allegedly paid $1 million (about Dh3.67 million) for her first divorce in 2002. Matouk, her second husband, had obtained an Interpol arrest-warrant against her in 2005 for stealing $230,000 and some jewellery from the safe at the couple’s apartment in Adma, Lebanon. He complained that she treated him with disrespect by allowing her father to negotiate and sign contracts on her behalf in violation of her exclusive contract with Matouk. Another sore spot in the couple’s relationship was Suzan’s occasional denial of their marriage. She gave contradicting statements to the media, sometimes calling him her husband and other times referring to him as her ‘manager’. When things hit rock bottom, Suzan claimed that her marriage to Matouk was never consummated and threatened to sue him since she was his second wife, and as a French citizen, Matouk’s second marriage was considered bigamy. Matouk is officially still Suzan’s husband at the time of her death. - By Dina Aboul Hosn, Staff Reporter

Detained banker ‘tortured’ in Dubai

Detained banker ‘tortured’ in Dubai
original published
http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto060920081427073959
By Simeon Kerr in Dubai/ Financial Times
Montag Jun 9 2008 13:20

A Pakistani banker detained by the Dubai authorities as part of a corruption investigation at the Dubai Islamic Bank is suing the bank in the US, alleging that he has been tortured and held in the United Arab Emirates without credible evidence against him.

The case offers a rare glimpse into the sometimes murky world of Dubai’s justice system, where rumours of disappearances and mani-pulation of evidence abound.

The bank’s investigation is one of a spate of financial and real-estate scandals that could affect the UAE’s quest to become a business centre adhering to international standards.

Dubai has turned itself into a magnet for international businesses seeking to serve the oil-rich Middle East, but its rudimentary legal system is regarded as a weakness of the emirate’s regulatory landscape.

Rafatul Islam Usmani, who was working in structured finance for the bank, is pressing for unspecified damages against his former employer, the Dubai Islamic Bank, the Middle East’s third-largest Islamic bank by assets, as well as one of the bank’s former employees and a government auditor.

Mr Usmani says Dubai’s security forces abused him during an investigation into alleged misuse of the bank’s funds in Turkey.

In a complaint filed on June 2, he claims the authorities tortured him to the point that he “confessed to unknown criminal acts”, and that they assaulted members of his family and kept hold of his passport.

He has filed the case in Miami under the Alien Tort Claims Act, arguing that the Dubai judiciary is prone to political interference.

Michael Diaz, his lawyer in Florida, says that when he gets more access to his client and receives more information, he may issue an updated complaint broadening the scope of the damages claim to other individuals. They could include the security forces and other government members.

Mr Usmani, who has had only limited access to his lawyers and family since he was detained in late May, denies all allegations of bribery put forward by the authorities, says Mr Diaz.

The Dubai Islamic Bank declined to comment.

A government representative said the bank was currently handling the case itself. Dubai would continue to focus on judicial reform as a central part of the emirate’s overall strategy, the official added.

The detention of Mr Usmani comes amid another investigation into alleged financial irregularities at Deyaar, a Dubai developer that is 41 per cent owned by the Dubai Islamic Bank. The bank says it is not involved in any wrongdoing.

Zack Shahin, a US citizen and former chief executive of Deyaar, is one of four people detained in that case over the past few weeks. He denies any wrongdoing.

Mr Usmani, who had been the DIB’s vice-president of structured finance, says the current investigation started in early 2007, when the bank received an anonymous e-mail.

This alleged that one of the DIB’s business partners, CCH International, might have been violating Turkish law “by paying irregular commissions and obtaining credit facilities through DIB and then lending those same facilities to entities and individuals at very high rates”.

Mr Usmani claims that the bank forced him to resign last year, but then rejected his resignation, keeping him as an unpaid employee while the investigation continued.

He says that, in December, he was stopped at the airport from travelling to Pakistan for his daughter’s wedding, and then had his passport confiscated by the two individual defendants in the case, Obaid al-Shamsi, a former DIB legal officer, and Mohammed al-Marzouki, a government auditor.

Deyaar Chairman Can’t Rule Out More Arrests In Fraud Probe

original published: Zawya

http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidZW20080601000095/lok135821080601?weeklynewsletter&zawyaemailmarketing

DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)–Nasser Al Sheikh, chairman of Deyaar Development Co (DEYAAR.AI), Dubai’s third-largest traded real estate company, said Sunday that further arrests in a probe into fraud at the company are likely.

“There is a possibility they will detain more people,” Al Sheikh told Zawya Dow Jones in an interview Sunday.

Dubai prosecutors have already detained the company’s former chief executive Zack Shahin; Ganesan Krishna Kumar, a Dubai-based advertising executive; Charbel Boutros, a salesman at Deyaar and Jose Mebar, a director of a Dubai-based building consultant.

Al Sheikh said he expects that the investigation will be handed to the courts and the suspects charged shortly.

“It’s nearing closure,” he said.

Shahin, who resigned as Deyaar’s chief executive last month amid allegations of embezzling U.A.E. dirhams 350,000 ($95,000) from the company, is being detained along with the other suspects without charge.

A Dubai prosecution official told Zawya Dow Jones Sunday that all suspects all suspects in the case could be held for a further 30 days, while investigators collect more evidence.

-By Mirna Sleiman, Dow Jones Newswires, +9714 364 4966, mirna.sleiman@dowjones.com

Copyright (c) 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-06-08 1358GMT

German Dubai Property Investment Disaster

German Version original published manager-magazin.de

A Financial Fraud ? – Who or What is LOSNA ?

A dream hotel in Dubai and high returns for investors – what a fund initiator from Germany once promised seems now to be a financial fraud.

The Initiator of this fraud could be an unknown investor from a caribean off shore company named “LOSNA”

It is a closed-end real estate fund, which funds promised develop the largest four-star hotel in the Arab world ,operated by the Maritime Group.

The fund initiator of the Dubai 1000 Investment Fund,Mr. Recker from Germany Hamm in Westphalia, promised investors a profit 9 to 12 percent per year .

Above all, however, it exist a mysterious Off-shore company in the Caribbean,called LOSNA, which paid suspect 107 million euros – money, but so far it seems hardly anyone of this company got to face.

Months before Manager-Magazin.de ( Germany) reported that in the Dubai Desert may be a new investor disaster .

The object of the Hotel Fund “Dubai 1000″, a luxury hotel, equipped with 1,000 rooms and 50 suites would have already opened in July 2007.

In fact, but on the alleged plot to that date only a huge construction pit, surrounded by several hundred-meter-long fence.

Even if under high pressure would continue, experts had estimated, was an opening of the Nobel hostel sooner than two years later to be expected.

What little remained even then, nor now appears unlikely.

And that is not only that the construction since the autumn of 2007 barely discernible progress has been made.

The investigation now is about suspect money laundering , suspect advertisement from a bank,” said the German Public procecuter Ina Holznagel. “The suspect in the specific case has now disbanded.” According Holznagel the investigation now is whether the money of investors generally in accordance with its purpose is used, whether in Dubai actually a hotel is built. Investment volume of the “Dubai 1000 Fund” is around 145 MillionEURO.

At least half of the invest hold the initiatior Recker as equity investors in place

According to manager-magazin.de only 1000 investors hold shares in volume of around 24.8million euro.

read more:

http://www.manager-magazin.de/geld/geldanlage/0,2828,547468,00.html

http://www.manager-magazin.de/geld/geldanlage/0,2828,547468-2,00.html

http://www.manager-magazin.de/geld/geldanlage/0,2828,547468-3,00.html

GulfNews-German fund faces probe into Dubai hotel

original published GulfNews:
http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/08/04/12/10204959.html

German real estate fund ‘Dubai-1000-Hotel-Fonds’ may cause severe losses to investors, according to lawyer Jens-Peter Gieschen of German solicitor’s office KWAG, which specialises in capital law and investor protection.

The fund was started in 2005 on the German grey capital market to finance a 1,000-room luxury hotel project in Dubai. The project, which should have been completed in July 2007, hangs in the balance.

The fund was scheduled to collect some 142 million euros from investors. Initiated by German investment broker Georg Recker, the fund promised annual returns between nine and 12 per cent.

“The yield prognosis of the fund has been entirely unrealistic,” Gieschen said. He visited the construction site of the luxury hotel in February and found nothing but a fence surrounding an excavation.

The site did not have a plot number or signs of contract companies, which is mandatory for building projects in Dubai, he said.

Public prosecutor Ina Holznagel from Dortmund, Germany, has ordered a probe as the fund is presumably still collecting money from investors.
Twelve investors have now launched an official complaint against Recker and his investment company Dubai 1000 Verwaltung.

German magazine Cash Online reported Recker as saying that the fund has been closed after collecting the targeted 142 million euros from investors, and the hotel project is developing according to plan.

Dubai Deyaar Former CEO:Others To Blame In Probe

original published Zawya

http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidZW20080421000171/lok144503080421?weeklynewsletter&zawyaemailmarketing

Monday, Apr 21, 2008

 

DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)–Zack Shahin, who resigned as chief executive of Deyaar Development Co.

Deyaar Development Co (DEYAAR.AI) last week after he was detained amid a financial investigation, told Zawya Dow Jones Monday that he is innocent and that others are to blame for alleged wrongdoing at the company.

“I’m totally innocent,” Shahin, told Zawya Dow Jones in an exclusive interview from a Dubai Police station in the city’s Bur Dubai district, where he is currently being detained amid an alleged embezzlement probe by Dubai authorities.

Shahin, who was unshaven and wearing a plain blue t-shirt, baseball cap and sandals, said he is accused of stealing 350,000 U.A.E. dirhams ($95,000) from DeyaarDeyaar , Dubai’s third-largest traded real-estate company.

“Others are responsible” for the financial irregularities at Deyaar.

Deyaar , he said. Shahin, a U.S. passport holder, said he was currently being held without charge. He spoke to Zawya Dow Jones without his attorneys present.

Lawyers at Shahin’s attorneys Al Sharif Advocates & Legal Consultants were immediately unavailable to comment on the matter when called Monday.

The Shahin investigation threatens to tarnish the reputation of Dubai’s ongoing $300 billion real-estate building boom and question its regulatory standards.

“This case shows the government doesn’t tolerate any corruption and we are committed to tackling corruption and we are completely transparent in this,” a U.A.E. government spokesperson told Zawya Dow Jones Monday.

Arabic-language jail documents seen by Zawya Dow Jones last week said that Shahin’s case was first referred to the police on March 23 and that he was called to the Dubai Public Prosecution office on April 2. His first hearing took place on April 14, according to the document.

When Shahin’s case was first referred to the police Deyaar .

Deyaar ’s chairman was Mohammed Khalfan Bin Kharbash. Kharbash Monday declined to comment when asked by Zawya Dow Jones whether he was aware of the investigation.

Kharbash resigned from the company on March 29, days ahead of Shahin’s detention.

A spokesman for the U.S. embassy in Abu Dhabi said “We are aware of the situation and are in contact with Mr. Shahin.” The spokesman said he couldn’t comment further citing privacy issues.

The Case Alexandre Robert

original published GulfNews

http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/Police_and_The_Courts/10203733.html

By Bassam Zaza, Senior Reporter

Published: April 07, 2008, 09:44

Dubai: The highest court in Dubai on Monday confirmed the 15-year jail term handed to two Emirati men who kidnapped a 15-year-old French boy and had sex with him against his will.

The Dubai Court of Cassation turned down the two men’s appeal for leniency and upheld the ruling.

The case now moves to Dubai Civil Court which will be looking into the victim’s Dh15 million compensation claim.

During Monday morning’s hearing, the Cassation Court confirmed I.M., 18, and A.K., 35, were guilty of kidnapping the 15-year-old French boy, A.R., and having sex with him against his will in a desert area in Al Barsha.

A.K’s reports confirmed he had Aids and Hepatitis. Earlier this year, the victim’s medical reports confirmed that he had not contracted either disease.

The Public Prosecution charged I.M. and A.K. and their compatriot, I.S., 17, with deception and kidnapping the boy and his compatriot, F.K., 16

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They were charged with forcefully undressing A.R., threatening him with a knife before having sex with him, while F.K. was kept outside the vehicle.

A.K was solely charged with threatening to kill the victim with a stick.

The Dubai Court of Appeal recently sentenced I.S. to three years in jail after he was found guilty as charged.

Records said the trio picked the boys up from a mall. A.R. testified one of the defendants snatched his cell phone from him when he dialled 999 shortly before he was forced to have sex with them.

“A.K. who carried a billiard stick and I.S. who carried a pocket knife asked me to step down from the car, but I refused. They switched off our phones and took them away. I.S. threatened to rape my mother, burn my parents and our house meanwhile I.K. pulled my friend out of the car powerfully.”

The victim stated that he was beaten, forced to remove his clothes before the defendants sodomized him successively.

“One of them even forced me to have oral sex with him,” he added.

F.K. confirmed the victim’s testimony and said: “When I returned to the vehicle, my friend looked petrified and quivering. I saw him carrying his underwear in a small bag. The suspects dropped us off at Jumeirah and the victim, who was crying angrily, told me what happened in the cab.”

Lawyer: UAE takes firm stance

The UAE has a firm standpoint against crimes of a sexual nature, said a top lawyer in light of the final ruling of the French boy’s sodomy case which was given on Monday.

“Yesterday’s irrevocable verdict [15 years imprisonment] shows that the UAE has a firm standpoint on crimes of rape and sexual violence and that we do not tolerate such crimes irrespective of the nationalities of the individuals involved in the crime,” Dr Habib Al Mulla, of Dr Habib Al Mulla and Co, Advocates and Legal Consultants, told Gulf News.

Commenting on the ruling, Dr Al Mulla who is the Dubai Government spokesperson in this case, said: “The verdict reconfirms our position that we have been putting forward from the beginning of this case that we need to let the system work. This judgement proves beyond any doubt that the UAE in general, and Dubai in particular, enjoys an efficient, reliable and trustworthy judicial system which is capable of dealing with issues of this nature.”

Dr Al Mulla expressed his gratitude that the judgment “has put an end to this saga that should not have existed from the beginning.”

He stressed that the UAE’s judicial system is independent and treats all parties equally before the law.

In an earlier statement Dubai’s Attorney General Essam Eisa Al Humaidan said: “Our role is to enforce the penal code and prosecute criminals who commit such terribly awful crimes which are considerably strange to our society. We ordinarily ask the court to apply the stiffest punishment applicable to combat all sorts of crimes and criminals. The judicial system works to protect the interests of all the UAE population including expatriates and locals.”

Rapists of french boy Alexandre Robert appeal against 15-year jail terms

Rapists of boy appeal against 15-year jail terms
By Bassam Za’za’, Senior Reporter
Published GulfNews: March 25, 2008, 00:34

Dubai: Two Emiratis serving 15-year jail terms for kidnapping and having forceful sex with a French boy, has pleaded not guilty and are seeking leniency before Dubai’s highest court.

In their appeal to the Dubai Court of Cassation, the two accused, I.M., 18, and A.K., 35, denied their charges and asked the court to grant them clemency. A.K.’s medical reports confirmed he has Aids and Hepatitis.

Their lawyer Saeed Al Ghailani, of Al Ghailani Advocates and Legal Consultants, handed the appeal to the Court of Cassation as the duo were not present at Monday’s hearing.

In the appeal sheet, Al Ghailani again requested the judges to refer the case to experts to verify whether it is medically possible for the victim not to contract Hepatitis or Aids after the victim alleged that “each of the 20-minute intercourses occurred without a condom”.

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The Court of Appeal earlier confirmed the defendants’ 15-year jail sentence after Presiding Judge Eisa Al Sharif upheld the initial ruling.

The Public Prosecution charged I.M., A.K. and their compatriot, I.S., 17, with deceiving and kidnapping the 15-year-old French-Swiss boy, and his friend, 16. They were charged with forcefully undressing the boy threatening him with a knife before having sex with him, while his friend was kept outside the vehicle.

The boy’s medical reports confirmed that he had not contracted Aids or Hepatitis.

A Dubai Government spokesperson in this case, Dr Habib Al Mulla of Dr Habib Al Mulla and Co Advocates and Legal Consultants, told Gulf News earlier the initial and appeal sentences are in accordance with the practice in most countries in respect to similar crimes.

The Appeal Court also upheld the referral of the victim’s Dh15 million civil compensation claim to Dubai Civil Court.

TV executive arrested at Duai airport relaseaded

original published GulfNews http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/Police_and_The_Courts/10194195.html

By Bassam Zaza, Senior Reporter Published: March 02, 2008, 16:02

Dubai:

A TV executive has been discharged of illegally bringing in and possessing 0.03 grams of hashish, Gulf News has learnt. Dubai Public Prosecution dismissed the charges and released the suspect. Gulf News learnt that the suspect was arrested at Dubai International Airport during a business trip. A lawyer said the suspect was unaware that the drug, used by many of his friends, was in the suspect’s handbag. No one from Dubai Public Prosecution was available to give reasons behind dismissing the case and issuing a release order.

original published: http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/travel/news/article3607846.ece

March 24, 2008

Endemol exec sent to Dubai jail after customs find ’speck of dirt’

Warning to travellers over Dubai drug laws as it is claimed officials ‘are paid bounty for each arrest’

A speck of dirt invisible to the human eye was all it took to land Cat Le Huy in a Dubai jail.

Officials at Dubai airport claimed they had found 0.03 grams of hashish in the Endemol television executive’s bag after he had travelled to the United Arab Emirates to visit a friend last month. They accused him of possession — which would have led to a mandatory four-year prison sentence had he been convicted. After he spent six weeks in Dubai’s jails protesting his innocence, prosecutors dropped the case this month.

Mr Le Huy, 31, a German citizen living in London, claims that Dubai officials are paid a “bounty” for arresting drug offenders, a practice confirmed independently to The Times by sources who did not wish to be named.

“People shouldn’t go to Dubai until the laws change,” Mr Le Huy said. “They are running a risk. Even if you’re innocent and know about the laws, if they suspect you of anything, you run the risk of incarceration.”

His experience is common, according to Fair Trials International, a legal charity, which says that drug-related arrests have increased rapidly since 2006, when the laws changed in Dubai so that trace amounts of banned substances picked up by airport detection equipment were deemed to indicate possession. “People are being subjected to very thorough searches,” said Saima Jirji, a solicitor at the charity. “Even seams in their clothing and the fluff in their pockets is being checked.”

Mr Le Huy claims that he was also approached by a detective asking whether he knew any drug-takers back in Britain and whether he could coerce them into coming to Dubai. He alleged that at least two other foreign inmates had been approached with similar requests. The UAE Embassy in London refused to comment.

At first he was accused of smuggling heroin after officials found pills in an unmarked container that turned out to be jet-lag medicine sold freely over the counter in Dubai and the US.

He was strip-searched.

Officials claimed to have found a trace of hashish in his bag and detained him.

He was asked to sign letters in Arabic, which he could not read.
Only after being told that he would at once be deported if he signed did he do so, but he wrote “under duress” beneath each signature.

Instead of being deported he was put in solitary confinement.
Because he was dehydrated and forbidden from drinking he was only able to produce a urine sample after eight hours.

Last year 59 British people were detained in Dubai over drugs offences, and so far this year the figure is nine, according to the Foreign Office. Keith Brown served nine months after customs officers found a 0.003 gram trace of cannabis stuck to his shoe.

This month the BBC Radio 1 DJ Grooverider, whose real name is Raymond Bingham, started a four-year sentence for possessing 2.16 grams of cannabis.

Fair Trials said the list of prohibited substances included everything from antidepressants to a cough medicine for children. Even those in Dubai on transit to another destination can be arrested under the regulations.

Mr Le Huy denies that there were ever any drugs on his person.
“Hashish isn’t something available in my social circle — the idea it was in my bag is absolutely ludicrous,” he says.
He was pressed by the authorities to plead guilty, but his refusal left him in a legal limbo.

After a persistent campaign by his friends in Britain and after negotiations with his lawyer in the UAE, the Dubai authorities agreed to drop the investigation.

He had initially spent two weeks at the airport jail, where he couldn’t shower because of the condition of the bathrooms. To compensate, he “discovered the magic of Dettol”, using the disinfectant to shower.

At Dubai Central Jail he suffered even worse conditions. Inmates slept eight to a cell. Because of the poor food he lost 15 kilograms in weight (more than two stone). “Every day was a bad day when you wake up and realise, ‘I’m still here.’ ” When he was finally released, he was taken to a police station to pick up his passport, only for detectives to put him in a bloodstained cell for another four hours.

During the six weeks he had found solace in the company of other English-speaking inmates such as Grooverider. Mr Le Huy said that foreign inmates were treated with “distant contempt” by guards, who “played mind games” with them. “They’d ask us to go out in the courtyard at 1am, then take four hours to search all our cells. There was a lad from London who had a bronchial infection. They made him wait in the rain for four hours even after we asked the guards if he could stand in the corridor.”

“The laws and punishments of a nation are theirs to set,” he emphasised, adding: “My point is that you will be detained for a minimum of 21 days if they suspect you of anything, whether or not you’re innocent.”

Comments:

…..just got back from dubai and i am disgusted with the way they are treating human lives with such cruelty..alcohol is freely avaiable so dont tell me its a moral thing to due with islam..these are peoples lives they are destroying..they are not drug smugglers and have only been in possession of small amounts of cannabis unknowingly or through being careless.certainly does not deserve this kind of treatment. i have been going to the area for eight years or so and this is a whole new practice by the customs..people must be warned of the dangers of smoking cannibis and going to the uae as it can last up to four weeks or more as a trace in your blood which is also a four year sentence. i really feel for the people now in prison for such ridiculous sentences and i hope our goverment puts pressure on the country to release these people as soon as possible. They are trying to be a tourist destination i think!
wads, porthleven, cornwall
i`m just back in europe after 45 days along with cat mentioned in your article. unfortunatley it´s all true. DO NOT GO TO DUBAI AND AVOID EMIRATES AIRLINES!!!!! this is all i want to add …

B.H., duesseldorf,
Having recently returned from Dubai I can only say the airlines must lace the onboard drinks with something that makes people like the place. However as I only drank water they failed to hook me! Dubai simply is the worst place I have ever visited. Of course it has sun, but then so do many other places.
In short it has nothing going for it. A more disturbing aspect is the manner in which the exploited foreign workers are treated is appalling. Boycott the place, that’s my advice.

The Story
original published: http://freediz.com/

Cat finally got released on Wednesday the 5th of March after having been detained for 6 weeks and arrived safely back home in London 0n the 6th :-)
A huge thanks to everyone else involved who has helped by showing their support and by spreading the word. The extent of bloggers and facebookers joining in support of freeing Cat must have left the Dubai authorities in shock and amazement. Incredible what the ‘masses’ can achieve in an area where all politicians – independent of nationailty have been too cowardice to even approach the subject.Excellent Work!

The CaseCat Le-Huy
known to his friends as Diz has been detained in Dubai since Saturday 26th of January whilst the Dubai authorities are trying to come up with some drugs charges against him. Cat being Asian and having long hair was an obvious target and when they found melatonin sleeping pills they decided that these had to be drugs and have sent them off for testing. They claim to have found a piece of hash in his bag and this has been sent off for analysis as well…
The very worrying thing about Dubai law is that if they do a urine test on you and find that you have traces of anything illegal in your system – independent of where you consumed these illegal substances, then this will count as smuggling and the minimum charge for anything drug related is 4 years. Even if this charge is based on a trace of something in your urine. Can I just add that something as basic as Codeine is considered illegal and just a trace of the painkiller can land you in jail.

original published: http://thetruthaboutdubai.com/?cat=6

February 25th, 2008
Filed Under Cases, Cat Le-Huy (Diz), Take Action

Cat Le-Huy as of the 22nd of February remains in Al Wathba Prison. We are exploring all possible avenues for his release. Currently the decision rests with the Dubai Chief Prosecutor as to whether to charge him or drop the case entirely. Cat’s Advocate has been presenting arguments to the Prosecution in an attempt to persuade them to drop the case.
We hope that the Chief Prosecutor can be persuaded to drop the case. It is almost like a pre-trial and the legal fees for this are are expected to be in the vicinity of £50,000. We have raised half this amount already thanks to your donations, and are now making an appeal for people to keep donating to reach the full amount. All fees will need to be paid prior to his release and therefore it is urgent and imperative that we complete the fundraising ASAP. As the amount is large, it is difficult for any one party to provide liquid cash in such a short time so we need to appeal to the public for support.
CLICK HERE TO SAVE CAT – DONATE NOW
We are hoping for a speedy, positive resolution & expect to have more solid news very shortly. There are rumours being generated within the prison that people who plead guilty, are deported though as you would expect, there are no guarantees and this is often an attempt to scare prisoners into pleading guilty, to make the Chief Prosecutor’s job easier. Cat was told if he signed the Arabic confession, he would be deported immediately. They didn’t keep their word then & we very much doubt they would now. As such, Cat agrees it’s better to tell the truth and maintain his innocent plea. Unfortunately, the legal system in the UAE is not designed with fair trials in mind & with very few practicing (drug) criminal lawyers, senior advocates & associated law firms charge a high amount for their services. In this case, we are confident that Cat’s advocate will be able to secure his release in the very near future as he has done for many others in similar situations in the past. We have been advised, there is a 90% chance this case will be closed if we can raise the financial assistance in a timely manner.
Please circulate this most important appeal for financial assistance.We are asking for your donations –whatever you can give– of which 100% of proceeds will go toward his legal defence fund. Without a lawyer, Cat will very likely have no option but to plead guilty, and we are at a critical stage in this process. Cat pleaded with us not to let him get lost in the system and we need to do everything we can to keep prevent this happening. Without legal representation, he doesn’t stand a chance.
Thank you so much for your help, we couldn’t do this without your benevolence and generosity. Please direct questions to dubai@futurecorp.co.uk.

Dubai a real safe Tourist Destination ? The Dangers of Dubai – Nine Network Australia

Nakheel takes legal action against PalmInvest

Nakheel takes legal action against PalmInvest

By Suzzanne FentonStaff Reporter
Published: GulfNews January 22, 2008, 22:13

Dubai: Dubai’s master developer Nakheel, which has more than $60 billion worth of projects in its portfolio, has taken legal action against PalmInvest – an unscrupulous real estate investment broker based in the Netherlands for fraudulently selling bonds with a nine per cent interest rate for property on Palm Jumeirah in Dubai.

Although PalmInvest is not an officially registered company in Dubai, the PR Manager for Nakheel, master developer of the Palm, told Gulf News, “Yes, I’ve heard of them. In fact, we’ve taken legal action against them in the past to stop them using our projects and our name in their marketing and advertising.

“They’ve no connection or affiliation with Nakheel.”

According to an employee of the company, PalmInvest is owned by Dutchman Remy Bal and is based in Hilversum in the Netherlands. However, neither the General Manager nor the Press Officer of PalmInvest was available for comment.

On the company website, PalmInvest invites prospective buyers to ‘invest in the Palm Dubai’ and promises that it is ‘in all respects legal and fiscally responsible’.

It also states that Dubai is ‘the right breeding ground for safe investments’.

PalmInvest is selling bonds guaranteeing a nine per cent interest rate per year over a three-year period to investors willing to pay a minimum of Dh266,385 ($72,525).

Marwan bin Galita, chief executive of the Real Estate Regulatory Agency (Rera), on Monday highlighted the importance of investing safely within the new framework put in place by Rera, “No transactions can be processed outside the land department system, improving confidence and security in the market.”

Dutch authorities arrested five on suspicion of fraud on Tuesday. The Netherlands’ financial prosecutor said in a statement that documents and luxury goods were seized during raids on eight offices and five homes in the Netherlands and one in Monaco.

A research associate at Jones Lang LaSalle, said, “The new Escrow Account Law put in place by Rera now ensures this kind of fraud doesn’t happen. There is full consumer protection in play. So now the developer can’t take any money before he’s got something to show for it.”

Appeals court upholds 15-year jail terms for two in rape case

By Bassam Zaza, Senior Reporter
GulfNews – Published: February 17, 2008, 12:18

Dubai: An appeals court on Sunday upheld 15-year jail terms handed down to two Emiratis convicted of raping a French-Swiss teenager.

Saeed Ghailani, lawyer of the convicts, told Gulf News that he would appeal the ruling at the Court of Cessation.

Earlier, the Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced the men—a 35-year-old who is HIV positive and his 18-year-old compatriot—and referred the victim’s compensation claim of Dh15 million to a civil court.

The Public Prosecution charged the two men along with a 17-year-old teenager, prosecuted at Juvenile Court, with deceiving and kidnapping the 15-year-old boy and his 16-year-old compatriot.

They were also charged with forcefully undressing the 15-year old, threatening him with a knife, before having sex with him against his will.

Rape case A.Robert – It´s a pack of lies

7days.ae
Last Updated : Monday 04 Feb, 2008 – 3 comments

By Ali Al Shouk

The defence lawyer for two men convicted of raping a teenage boy yesterday told the Court of Appeal his clients were innocent and that the prosecution’s case had been based on lies. The pair, one of whom has AIDS and hepatitis, were given 15-year jail terms in December after being found guilty of driving the 15-year-old French-Swiss teen into the desert, forcing him to strip at knifepoint and brutally raping him.
Defence lawyer Said Al-Gelani, from Al-Gelani Advocates and Legal Consultants, said: “The victim wanted to destroy the suspects’ life, and he fabricates the whole story.” He also claimed that the fact that the boy had not become infected with HIV proved that his clients were not guilty.
“The victim’s mother has said in news reports that she is happy because her son is clean six months after the incident, but we know that hepatitis and AIDS are both transferred very fast, so how did he not become infected? Especially as he said in the records that the rape continued for 20 minutes without protection,” he said.
Al-Gelani went on to criticise the Public Prosecution for seeking harsher sentences, alleging there was not enough evidence to convict the men. “The prosecution referred the case in August to the court but they withdraw it because there wasn’t enough evidence. They then referred the case again in October,” he said. “They have manipulated the records.”
In the Court of Appeal, the prosecution are seeking harsher sentences. The defence wants the convictions quashed or at the least see the jail terms reduced. The result of the appeal will be issued later this month. At the time of the original sentencing, Judge Fahmi Monier said he had absolutely no doubt about the charged men’s guilt.
“We are sure of what happ-ened and the suspects’ denials were lies used in the hope of escaping the penalties,” he said. The victim’s mother, Veronique Robert, said of the sentencing in December: “Fifteen years is nothing for someone who knew he had AIDS.” The case is also going to be heard in the Civil Court where the victim is seeking dhs15 million in damages from his attackers.

Tower of Fraud – Gone with the Wind

XPRESS4ME.com By Bobby Naqvi, News Editor

A Dubai-based real estate brokerage agency has allegedly vanished with Dh7 million taken from around 280 investors who bought timeshare options in a Jumeirah Lakes property, an investor and a leading construction firm told XPRESS.

The construction firm and the investor are planning to file a class suit against the real estate agency.

In February 2004, PIVA Real Estate Renting Services LLC signed an agreement with Dubai-based construction company Wind Properties to market timeshare options in 13 floors of the Wind Towers, part of the Jumeirah Lakes project.

These holiday options offered investors a fixed return over a period of 25 years and a free week-long stay in the towers once a year.

“This contract was terminated by Wind Properties after a cheque [National Bank of Dubai, No. 4875, issued by PIVA] of Dh4 million bounced in December 2004,” Shahrokh Nikpour, the lawyer representing Wind Properties, said, adding that the cheque was an advance payment for selling timeshare options in 13 floors of Wind Towers.

“However, despite the termination of the contract, PIVA continued to sell the timeshare options and duped a total of 280 investors and collected a total of Dh7.355 million from them between February 2004 and December 2007,” the lawyer alleged.

“When my client discovered the fraud, he demanded that PIVA hand over the contracts. PIVA signed with the investors and declare the amount of money collected from the investors,” he said, referring to Dr Mahmoud Reza Azizi, the owner of Wind Properties. But PIVA avoided doing so.

The brokerage agency also made changes in the format of the contract provided by Wind Properties, he alleged, adding that the agency signed unauthorised contracts with the investors.
Following legal notices from Wind Properties, the general manager of PIVA, Paul Couzins, offered to settle the dues and gave a list of investors. The whereabouts of Couzins are not known.

PIVA, with commercial licence No. 237340, is owned by two Emiratis. One of the owners said: “I am out of that and can talk only when I come back after three days.”

Nikpour said: “The owners are out of the country and we will have a meeting with them next week.”

While Wind Properties severed its ties with PIVA after the cheque bounced, the construction company failed to publicise the termination of the contract with the agency.

“We didn’t publicise it in newspapers as we thought that PIVA would stop selling the options,” the lawyer explained, adding that “our client was trying to solve the matter amicably with PIVA”.
Wind Properties neither informed the authorities nor lodged a police complaint.

“Timeshare is a new concept in Dubai and this would have damaged the reputation of the industry,” a top official of Wind Properties said, requesting anonymity.

Wind Properties allegedly allowed PIVA to operate from its office in the Emarat Atrium building on Shaikh Zayed Road.

An office assistant at Wind Properties’ office at suite number 145 in the ‘B’ block in the Atrium building confirmed that PIVA’s four staff members, including Paul Couzins, assistant Renu, IT executive Vikrant Shankar and office boy Kumar operated from this office.

PIVA was earlier based at Dune Centre on Al Diyafah Road till last September, before shifting to Emarat building. A dedicated phone line for PIVA at Atrium office goes unanswered.

“So many people are calling for PIVA every day,” the assistant said.

But Nikpour denied that PIVA was operating from his client’s office.

He said, “My client was trying to get documentary evidence of the fraud and that is why PIVA was given a space in the office.”

Main Man: Wind Properties’ lawyer Shahrokh Nikpour.

Unbelievable-Lawyer of a defendant state: Negative Aids test proves boy was not raped

Gulf News

By Bassam Za’za’, Staff Reporter
Published: February 04, 2008, 00:21

Dubai: The acquittal of a defendant (who has hepatitis and Aids) of having forceful sex with a 15-year-old boy prevailed after the victim’s examination proved he didn’t contract any disease, a lawyer told a court on Sunday.

“The medical examination of 15-year-old French boy, A.R., has shown that he didn’t contract Aids or hepatitis. This fact comes six months following the incident and it proves that my 35-year-old Emirati client, A.K., didn’t penetrate or have any intercourse with the boy, otherwise the claimant would have contracted any of the diseases. A.K. and his 18-year-old compatriot I.M. are innocent,” lawyer Saeed Al Ghailani, of Saeed Al Ghailani Advocates and Legal Consultants, who is representing the Emirati defendants, told the Dubai Appeals Court yesterday.
Click Here!

“May God bless you and thank you for your efforts,” A.K. told Al Ghailani before Presiding Judge Eisa Al Sharif.

The defendants are serving a 15-year imprisonment term after the Dubai Court of First Instance incriminated them of kidnapping and having sex against the boy’s will in a desert area.

False allegations

“Since the litigation process started, the victim has been bluffing and giving false accusations claiming that his abusers (each of whom had 20-minute intercourse with him) didn’t use condoms. Yet, the medical results have contradicted the boy’s allegations and were to the advantage of A.K. who should be happy,” argued Al Ghailani.

The lawyer also accused the Public Prosecution of fabricating evidence against his clients and failing to carry out the law enforcement procedures against the defendants who were referred to court before the issuance of the accusation sheet.

The Public Prosecution charged A.K., I.M. and their 17-year-old compatriot, I.S., (prosecuted at Juvenile Court) with deceiving and kidnapping A.R. and his 16-year-old compatriot, F.K., by offering to drive them home.

They were charged with forcefully undressing A.R., threatening him with a knife and stick before having sex with him against his will, while F.K. was kept outside the vehicle.

Al Ghailani asked the court to refer the victim to Rashid Hospital for a medical examination for the “claimant in the civil case to corroborate his Dh15 million compensation claim”.

Suspect held for stealing jewellery, cash from hotels

GulfNews
By Alia Al Theeb, Staff Reporter
Published: January 30, 2008, 16:12

Dubai: A man who is suspected of stealing valuables from hotel rooms in front of its employees, has been arrested.

The European suspect, G.A., used an innovative modus operandi to carry out the thefts. He used to go to the hotel’s reception and claim that he had lost the key to his room when he was not even a guest in the hotel.

Police said when a person is able to take advantage of the recklessness of hotel staff at some well-known hotels and the recklessness continues until it raises security concerns, it becomes an issue where the staff should be interrogated and even terminated from jobs and deported if necessary.

They said lack of experience and over-confidence of the staff helped the person pull off the daring thefts.

The suspect used to approach the reception at a certain hotel and claim to have lost the key to his room and needed help to open the door.

After he entered the room, he asked the staff to open the locker in the room as he had forgotten the pin number of the locker.

The suspect was able to carry out two thefts in this way and stole a watch worth Dh71,000, jewellery and gold worth Dh123,000, besides $24,950 (about Dh 91,663), 600 Euro (about Dh3,256), 5,000 Rouble (about Dh750) and 17,000 Australian dollars (about Dh55,486) in cash.

Recklessness

The employees’ recklessness of not abiding by the procedures of checking identity of guests before opening the rooms and lockers led to the thefts.

CID tracked G.A. down and came to know his identity 30 minutes after he left the country. Dubai Police thanked Lebanese authorities for their cooperation.

Suspect held for stealing jewellery, cash from hotels

GulfNews
By Alia Al Theeb, Staff Reporter
Published: January 30, 2008, 16:12

Dubai: A man who is suspected of stealing valuables from hotel rooms in front of its employees, has been arrested.

The European suspect, G.A., used an innovative modus operandi to carry out the thefts. He used to go to the hotel’s reception and claim that he had lost the key to his room when he was not even a guest in the hotel.

Police said when a person is able to take advantage of the recklessness of hotel staff at some well-known hotels and the recklessness continues until it raises security concerns, it becomes an issue where the staff should be interrogated and even terminated from jobs and deported if necessary.

They said lack of experience and over-confidence of the staff helped the person pull off the daring thefts.

The suspect used to approach the reception at a certain hotel and claim to have lost the key to his room and needed help to open the door.

After he entered the room, he asked the staff to open the locker in the room as he had forgotten the pin number of the locker.

The suspect was able to carry out two thefts in this way and stole a watch worth Dh71,000, jewellery and gold worth Dh123,000, besides $24,950 (about Dh 91,663), 600 Euro (about Dh3,256), 5,000 Rouble (about Dh750) and 17,000 Australian dollars (about Dh55,486) in cash.

Recklessness

The employees’ recklessness of not abiding by the procedures of checking identity of guests before opening the rooms and lockers led to the thefts.

CID tracked G.A. down and came to know his identity 30 minutes after he left the country. Dubai Police thanked Lebanese authorities for their cooperation.

Man denies charges of trying to force woman into prostitution

Police and The Courts

GulfNews – By Bassam Za’za’, Staff Reporter
Published: January 24, 2008, 00:07

Dubai: A driver has denied charges of forcing a penniless woman into prostitution, before a court.

The woman claimed she was brought here to work as a housemaid for an Emirati family.

The 36-year-old Indian driver, M.S., denied the charges before Dubai Court of First Instance, which earlier sentenced his 32-year-old compatriot housewife, K.M., to three years in jail for beating and forcing the 30-year-old victim, S.N., to work in the sex industry.

M.S., who was at large, was arrested and referred to court.

S.N. said she was taken from the airport directly to a flat on the day she arrived in October. “M.S. claimed that he worked as a driver for my local sponsor. He drove me to a flat where I was kept until K.M. said she would take me to my sponsor. I didn’t feel comfortable because there were three other girls.

Duped

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“On that evening, K.M. told me that I would be sleeping with men. I refused, cried and begged her to repatriate me or send me to my Emirati sponsor. K.M. said I had to pay her Rs300,000 [Dh27,799] if I wanted to return to my country,” said the victim.

“The next day I met a man wearing national dress who spoke fluently in an Indian language.

“The man who I was told would be my sponsor had an Indian woman with him. M.S. drove us to a flat where they asked me to enter, but I refused. He drove me back to the flat of K.M. who beat me before I managed to run away and report to the police,” said S.N.

K.M. will be deported after serving her jail term. M.S.’s verdict will be heard soon.

Man denies charges of trying to force woman into prostitution

Police and The Courts

GulfNews – By Bassam Za’za’, Staff Reporter
Published: January 24, 2008, 00:07

Dubai: A driver has denied charges of forcing a penniless woman into prostitution, before a court.

The woman claimed she was brought here to work as a housemaid for an Emirati family.

The 36-year-old Indian driver, M.S., denied the charges before Dubai Court of First Instance, which earlier sentenced his 32-year-old compatriot housewife, K.M., to three years in jail for beating and forcing the 30-year-old victim, S.N., to work in the sex industry.

M.S., who was at large, was arrested and referred to court.

S.N. said she was taken from the airport directly to a flat on the day she arrived in October. “M.S. claimed that he worked as a driver for my local sponsor. He drove me to a flat where I was kept until K.M. said she would take me to my sponsor. I didn’t feel comfortable because there were three other girls.

Duped

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“On that evening, K.M. told me that I would be sleeping with men. I refused, cried and begged her to repatriate me or send me to my Emirati sponsor. K.M. said I had to pay her Rs300,000 [Dh27,799] if I wanted to return to my country,” said the victim.

“The next day I met a man wearing national dress who spoke fluently in an Indian language.

“The man who I was told would be my sponsor had an Indian woman with him. M.S. drove us to a flat where they asked me to enter, but I refused. He drove me back to the flat of K.M. who beat me before I managed to run away and report to the police,” said S.N.

K.M. will be deported after serving her jail term. M.S.’s verdict will be heard soon.

Gardener held for stealing Dh1.5 million

By Amira Agarib (Staff Reporter) Khaleej Times

23 January 2008

DUBAI – The Dubai Police on Tuesday arrested a Bangladeshi gardener for allegedly stealing Dh1.5 million from a villa in Al Garhoud.

On January 21, an Indian businessman called up the police to inform them that he found Dh1.5 million in cash kept in his cupboard missing after he returned from an evening outing with his family.

While enquiring about the people who had access to the villa, the businessman informed the police that a Bangladeshi national, M.Iqbal, 27, who was not on his sponsorship, worked for him as part-time gardener. He was not seen in the evening when the family returned home.

The CID officials learnt that Iqbal had some friends and relatives working in Al Aweer vegetable market. The police detained a relative of the gardener who later disclosed that Iqbal was in a farm in Dubai.

The police raided the farm on Tuesday and arrested the suspect and seized the bag of stolen cash.

During interrogation, he confessed to the crime. Soon after the family went out, he sneaked into the master bedroom of the villa and stole the money. He said he committed the crime because the businessman had not paid him his salary for the past several months. He was promised a salary of Dh1,000 per month.

Brigadier Khamis Mattar Al Mazina , Director of General Department of Criminal Investigatation, warned the villa owners not to keep valuables and large amounts of cash at home. He also noted that most villa owners left the windows and doors unlocked, encouraging thieves.

He added that the residents should not trust their domestic servants completely and allow them to enter their rooms. They should also keep their valuables in banks or safer places.

Gardener held for stealing Dh1.5 million

By Amira Agarib (Staff Reporter) Khaleej Times

23 January 2008

DUBAI – The Dubai Police on Tuesday arrested a Bangladeshi gardener for allegedly stealing Dh1.5 million from a villa in Al Garhoud.

On January 21, an Indian businessman called up the police to inform them that he found Dh1.5 million in cash kept in his cupboard missing after he returned from an evening outing with his family.

While enquiring about the people who had access to the villa, the businessman informed the police that a Bangladeshi national, M.Iqbal, 27, who was not on his sponsorship, worked for him as part-time gardener. He was not seen in the evening when the family returned home.

The CID officials learnt that Iqbal had some friends and relatives working in Al Aweer vegetable market. The police detained a relative of the gardener who later disclosed that Iqbal was in a farm in Dubai.

The police raided the farm on Tuesday and arrested the suspect and seized the bag of stolen cash.

During interrogation, he confessed to the crime. Soon after the family went out, he sneaked into the master bedroom of the villa and stole the money. He said he committed the crime because the businessman had not paid him his salary for the past several months. He was promised a salary of Dh1,000 per month.

Brigadier Khamis Mattar Al Mazina , Director of General Department of Criminal Investigatation, warned the villa owners not to keep valuables and large amounts of cash at home. He also noted that most villa owners left the windows and doors unlocked, encouraging thieves.

He added that the residents should not trust their domestic servants completely and allow them to enter their rooms. They should also keep their valuables in banks or safer places.

Teenage Rape case Dubai latest News from Gulfnews

Website of Veronique Robert http://www.boycottdubai.com
will be closed. See the statement of the mother by clicking the site

Police and The Courts
Teenage boy tests negative for HIV

GulfNews
Staff ReportPublished: January 19, 2008, 23:12

Dubai: A French teenage boy who was kidnapped and raped in Dubai by two men, one of whom was HIV-positive, has tested negative for HIV and hepatitis, the teenager’s mother said on Friday.

The news comes a month after a Dubai court sentenced the two men involved in the assault to 15 years in prison for the attack.

According to a CNN report, the teenager’s mother, Veronique Robert, said her son is very happy about his test results and feels he can now get on with his life.

She said he plans to return to school as soon as possible and continue with psychological therapy.
Speaking to Gulf News, Hussain Al Jazairi, lawyer for the victim confirmed the results of the tests. However, he refused to say what impact it will have on the case, which has its first hearing in the Appeal Court on Sunday.

Video CNN Interview Rape Case Dubai

Members of gang held for murder at Dubai Hotel Burj Al Arab

Staff Report
Published:GulfNews September 28, 2006, 00:00

Dubai: Police nabbed a group of people who killed one Arab and injured another in a fight in the Burj Al Arab Hotel on Sunday.

Police said the fight took place in one of the hotel rooms where the victims had gone to sell diamonds worth $255,000 (Dh935,850) to a group of Russians after a Kazakh woman lured the victims, as she knew them previously.

On Tuesday, September 26, the operations department received a report stating that a murder had taken place at Burj Al Arab Hotel in Jumeirah. Police squads arrived at the scene where an Arab national R.A.S., 31, was found killed.

Police found R.A.S. tied and there was a tape around his neck and on his mouth.

They also found another Arab A.J.N., 30, who was being escorted by a nurse. He was beaten up and his feet and hands were tied.

Part 2
Murder victim ‘came to UAE to build a life for himself’
By Bassma Al Jandaly, Staff Reporter
Published: October 02, 2006, 00:00

Dubai: The two men who went to display diamonds at the Burj Al Arab never suspected their deal would turn bloody.

Rami Andrwas Sama’an, a 32-year-old Syrian, was killed last Tuesday at the seven-star hotel when he accompanied his friend and compatriot Elias Al Nadaf, 30, to meet a group of people who claimed to be diamond traders.

Sama’an came to the UAE 10 years ago and was a partner at the Al Rozana coffee shop in Al Ghusais. Sama’an has a brother and a sister. His family lives in Ma’areen, a village near Damascus.

“He came to work here to support his family and to build a life for himself,” said Fadi Al Nadaf, Elias’s brother and Sama’an’s friend.

Al Nadaf said Sama’an was unmarried and was staying with friends in an apartment in Al Nahda in Sharjah.

Members of gang held for murder at Dubai Hotel Burj Al Arab

Staff Report
Published:GulfNews September 28, 2006, 00:00

Dubai: Police nabbed a group of people who killed one Arab and injured another in a fight in the Burj Al Arab Hotel on Sunday.

Police said the fight took place in one of the hotel rooms where the victims had gone to sell diamonds worth $255,000 (Dh935,850) to a group of Russians after a Kazakh woman lured the victims, as she knew them previously.

On Tuesday, September 26, the operations department received a report stating that a murder had taken place at Burj Al Arab Hotel in Jumeirah. Police squads arrived at the scene where an Arab national R.A.S., 31, was found killed.

Police found R.A.S. tied and there was a tape around his neck and on his mouth.

They also found another Arab A.J.N., 30, who was being escorted by a nurse. He was beaten up and his feet and hands were tied.

Part 2
Murder victim ‘came to UAE to build a life for himself’
By Bassma Al Jandaly, Staff Reporter
Published: October 02, 2006, 00:00

Dubai: The two men who went to display diamonds at the Burj Al Arab never suspected their deal would turn bloody.

Rami Andrwas Sama’an, a 32-year-old Syrian, was killed last Tuesday at the seven-star hotel when he accompanied his friend and compatriot Elias Al Nadaf, 30, to meet a group of people who claimed to be diamond traders.

Sama’an came to the UAE 10 years ago and was a partner at the Al Rozana coffee shop in Al Ghusais. Sama’an has a brother and a sister. His family lives in Ma’areen, a village near Damascus.

“He came to work here to support his family and to build a life for himself,” said Fadi Al Nadaf, Elias’s brother and Sama’an’s friend.

Al Nadaf said Sama’an was unmarried and was staying with friends in an apartment in Al Nahda in Sharjah.

Vergewaltigung in Dubai / Rape Case Dubai

Eine Mutter kämpft für Ihren Sohn

http://www.boycottdubai.com/


Wenn das Opfer zum Täter wird

Von Annette Langer Quelle`: Spielgel.de

Entführt, vergewaltigt, als Homosexueller kriminalisiert: Der Fall eines 15-jährigen Franzosen, der in Dubai von drei Männern missbraucht und vielleicht mit HIV infiziert wurde, sorgt für Empörung in Frankreich und Aufregung in den Emiraten. Jetzt begann der Prozess gegen die Täter.

Dubai – Touristenmagnet, Boom-City und Steuerparadies in einem: Dubai lockt seit Jahren Millionen von Ausländern in die Wüste am Persischen Golf. Doch nicht immer hält die glitzernde arabische Metropole, was sie an Modernität verspricht.

REUTERS

Vor dem Gerichtsgebäude in Dubai: Véronique Robert umarmt ihren Sohn AlexandreDies musste ein 15-jähriger Franzose schmerzlich erfahren, als er am 14. Juli dieses Jahres mit einem Freund in das Auto eines ihm bekannten Dubaiers stieg, um sich von einem Einkaufszentrum nach Hause fahren zu lassen. In dem Wagen saßen seiner späteren Aussage zufolge noch zwei weitere Einheimische. Sie fuhren mit den beiden Franzosen in die Wüste, bedrohten sie mit einem Messer, hießen den einen, sich hinter einer Sanddüne zu verstecken, während sie den anderen im Auto der Reihe nach vergewaltigten.

Dann fuhren die Männer den misshandelten Alexandre Robert zurück in die Stadt und warfen ihn aus dem Auto – nicht ohne ihm eine Drohung mit auf den Weg zu geben: “Ich werde dein Haus niederbrennen und deine Eltern verbrennen, nachdem ich Sex mit deiner Mutter gehabt habe”, soll einer der Männer laut Aussage des 15-Jährigen gesagt haben.

Alexandre alarmierte trotzdem sofort die Polizei und erstattete Anzeige. Drei Stunden lang vernahmen ihn die Ermittler, dann nahmen sie noch am selben Tag die drei Verdächtigen fest.
Jetzt standen die 18 und 35 Jahre alten mutmaßlichen Vergewaltiger in Dubai wegen Entführung und sexuellen Missbrauchs vor Gericht. Ein dritter, erst 17 Jahre alter Junge muss sich vor dem Jugendgericht verantworten. Alle Angeklagten plädieren auf nicht schuldig. Bei einer Verurteilung droht den Erwachsenen die Todesstrafe, der Minderjährige muss mit bis zu zehn Jahren Haft rechnen.

“Ich weiß, dass du homosexuell bist”

Für Alexandre Robert häuften sich nach dem Überfall die Probleme: Noch in der Tatnacht besuchte er eigenen Angaben zufolge einen Arzt, der ihn kurz untersuchte und das gefundene Sperma zur DNA-Analyse gab. Auf zusätzliche Blutuntersuchungen habe der Arzt damals verzichtet, hieß es. In seinen Bericht schrieb der Mediziner, er habe “keine Anzeichen einer Zwangspenetration” feststellen können. Zum Abschied habe er nach Angaben des Teenagers gesagt: “Ich weiß, dass du homosexuell bist. Du kannst es ruhig zugeben. Ich sehe das.”

Was in westlichen Staaten als Diskriminierung und Vorurteil gilt, bekommt in Dubai ein vollkommen anderes Gewicht: Denn hier, in dem halbautonomen Stadtstaat der Vereinigten Emirate, ist jede Art von Homosexualität – egal ob freiwillig oder eine Vergewaltigung – ungesetzlich und kann mit Haftstrafen bis zu einem Jahr geahndet werden.

Weil französische Diplomaten die Familie Robert auf diesen Tatbestand aufmerksam machten, verließ sie Anfang Oktober Dubai, den Ort, wo Alexandre zur Schule ging und sein Vater als Hotelmanager arbeitet.

“Homosexualität ist sowohl zivilrechtlich als auch gemäß der Scharia in den Vereinigten Arabischen Emiraten illegal”, erklärt Regina Spöttl, Länderkoordinatorin für Saudi Arabien und die Golfstaaten bei Amnesty International. Zwar gebe es Entsprechungen zu den bürgerlichen Gesetzbüchern, wie wir sie kennen, diese basierten aber alle auf den islamischen Gesetzesvorschriften. Homosexualität sei dabei eines der großen gesellschaftlichen Tabuthemen und werde als Abweichung von der Norm, als Sünde und Krankheit begriffen: “Uns sind Fälle bekannt, in denen Männer, die für homosexuelle Aktivitäten verurteilt wurden, mit Hormonen behandelt wurden, um sie von dieser angeblichen Krankheit zu heilen”, sagte Spöttl SPIEGEL ONLINE.

Es gebe diverse Gummiparagrafen wie unsittliches Verhalten oder Erregung öffentlichen Ärgernisses, die vor Gericht benutzt würden, um Haftstrafen zu verhängen. Immer wieder würden auch Auspeitschungen angeordnet, erklärt die Menschenrechtlerin.

Ein Schicksal, das dem 15-jährigen Alexandre hoffentlich erspart bleibt. Der “New York Times” sagte ein Vertreter der Generalstaatsanwaltschaft in Dubai, man habe nicht die Absicht, den jungen Franzosen strafrechtlich zu verfolgen. Vielmehr strebe man die Todesstrafe für die Täter an. “Dieses Verbrechen ist eine gegen die Gesellschaft gerichtete Schandtat”, so der Sprecher.
Alexandre in Angst vor Aids

Ende August mussten die Roberts eine weitere Horrornachricht verkraften: Einer der mutmaßlichen Vergewaltiger ist HIV-positiv und an Hepatitis erkrankt – eine Tatsache, die von den Behörden in Dubai zunächst offenbar verschwiegen wurde. “Das war eine große Lüge”, empörte sich die Mutter des Opfers, Véronique Robert, jahrelang Mitarbeiterin des TV-Senders “Canal Plus”. Man habe wissentlich verhindert, dass ihr Sohn adäquat medizinisch behandelt wird, nur damit niemand erfahre, dass es Aids auch in den Emiraten gibt: “Die Regierung hat mit dem Leben meines Kindes gespielt”, sagte sie beim Prozessauftakt vor Reportern.

Der Polizeichef von Dubai, Dahi Khalfan Tamim, wies die Vorwürfe von sich: “Dieser Fall ist ein Gerichtsfall. Ich glaube, sie (Frau Robert) beschuldigt einfach jeden.” Weitere Kommentare wollte er nicht abgeben.

Dem Fernsehsender M6 France präsentierte die Journalistin vor laufenden Kameras Dokumente des Innenministeriums der Emirate, aus denen hervorgehen soll, dass die HIV-Infektion des mutmaßlichen Täters seit 2003 polizeibekannt war. Trotzdem hätten die Behörden ihr selbst sowie französischen Diplomaten mehrfach versichert, keiner der Angeklagten sei Virus-Träger. “Jetzt hängt auch noch das Damoklesschwert Aids über Alex”, sagte die Mutter der “New York Times”.
Zwar fiel der erste Aids-Test negativ aus. Gleichwohl können die Ärzte erst nach einer wiederholten Blutanalyse im Januar eine Prognose für Alexandre stellen. Der will weiter kämpfen:

“Ich muss stark sein. Ich tue dies für alle anderen Kinder, die vergewaltigt wurden und nichts dagegen tun konnten”, sagte er der “New York Times”.

Véronique Robert setzte alle Hebel in Bewegung. Sie schaltete die eigene Website “boycottdubai.com”, auf der sie die Vereinigte Arabischen Emirate auffordert, unverzüglich internationale Standards bei der Betreuung von Missbrauchs- und Vergewaltigungsopfern einzuhalten. Sie kontaktierte die französischen Diplomaten vor Ort und das Außenministerium in Paris. Einem unbestätigten Bericht der “New York Times” zufolge soll Präsident Nicolas Sarkozy noch im Juli erklärt haben, er erwarte von der Regierung der Emirate, dass der Fall “größte Aufmerksamkeit” bekomme.

Dubai reagierte und übertrug Anfang September einem neuen Staatsanwalt den Fall. Das Ergebnis: Die DNA-Proben konnten nach forensischer Untersuchung den drei Angeklagten zugeordnet werden.

Erst im April hatte der Premierminister der Arabischen Emirate, Scheich Mohammed Ibn Raschid al-Maktum, zugegeben, das Justizministerium hinke anderen Regierungsabteilungen um etwa 20 Jahre hinterher. Man müsse moderner werden und die “höchsten Standards von Transparenz und Verantwortung” schaffen. Die Medienaufmerksamkeit im Fall Robert wird sich zweifellos positiv auf eine mögliche Transparenz auswirken. Dubai ist sehr auf sein zeitgemäßes und fortschrittliches Image bedacht und reagiert sensibel auf internationale Kritik, die das Image der sauberen Boom-Region zu beschmutzen droht. Es werde ein faires Verfahren geben, versicherten die Behörden.

Währenddessen werden nicht nur in den örtlichen Medien neuerdings Rufe nach der Todesstrafe für die Täter laut: So berichtet der 23-jährige Student Ahmad aus Kaddoura im Gästebuch von boycottdubai.com über seine eigenen bitteren Erfahrungen als mehrfach missbrauchtes Kind, das nie Gerechtigkeit erfahren hat. Er bietet Alexandre seine Unterstützung an schließt mit den Worten: “Ich hoffe, die Täter werden hingerichtet, weil sie schon lange tot sind.”
Mit Material von Reuters und AP

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http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1680682,00.html

What allegedly happened in Dubai one steaming evening last summer would have been chilling enough in itself — the rape of a teenager by three strangers. But that act of violence also risks transforming a glittering metropolis and vacation destination, in the minds of some people, into a place to be avoided, and the attack has sparked strong reaction everywhere from Hollywood to the top levels of the French government.

Last July 14, Alexandre Robert, a 15-year-old French-Swiss youth living in Dubai with his hotel-manager father, was offered a ride home by an Emirati acquaintance from a beach club, where he was with a French friend. In the car were two local men. According to Alexandre, he was placed in the middle backseat, while the men drove the teenagers beyond the neon-soaked skyline and into the desert, where the three local men took turns raping him at knifepoint in the dark. His French friend was ordered to wait outside the car, and has told police he was not attacked. When the men finally deposited the distraught boys back in the city, they threatened to attack Alexandre’s family if he dared report them to the police.
The men could scarcely have expected what has unfolded since — an international incident involving President Nicolas Sarkozy and the United Arab Emirates leader Sheikh Zayid bin Sultan al-Nahyan. Last week, Alexandre’s mother launched a website called “Boycott Dubai,” hoping to hit at the economic heart of a city-state that has spent billions turning itself into one of the world’s top financial centers and a Western-friendly resort spot.
At home in Paris that Bastille Day holiday, Alexandre’s mother Véronique got the call at four in the morning telling her what had happened. “My instinct was to get on the first plane to Dubai,” she says. But another instinct kicked in too — that of a veteran political journalist, with connections at the top levels of the Elysée Palace and the French foreign ministry. Within minutes of speaking to Alexandre, Véronique Robert — who spent years as a producer for Canal Plus Television — woke up French diplomats in Dubai, who dispatched the consulate’s attorney to accompany Alexandre back to the Dubai police station.
The previous evening, Alexandre had given a three-hour statement alone to the police, but it was neither recorded nor translated, according to Véronique Robert, citing accounts from Alexandre and his father. The police doctor who examined Alexandre declared that there was no physical sign of rape, and suggested that Alexandre was instead concealing his homosexuality. Homosexual sex is a criminal act in Dubai, punishable with one year in jail.
The consulate attorney delivered dramatically different results. After he persuaded Dubai police to take a new statement from Alexandre, police arrested and charged two men within hours, thanks to the license plate Alexandre had glimpsed in the near-dark, and Alexandre’s ability to spot them in a police lineup. The two men go on trial this Wednesday, charged with “forced homosexuality,” knife-wielding and kidnapping; the third suspected attacker — the acquaintance of Alexandre — will stand trial in a juvenile court.
Véronique Robert has worked her journalistic contacts to press her son’s case, and got early word to Sarkozy of what had happened. In an Elysée meeting in July, Sarkozy told the UAE leader that he wanted “utmost attention” given to Alexandre’s alleged attack, according to a confidential diplomatic telex from the French ambassador to the Emirates to his bosses in Paris.
Despite that, Dubai officials reported three times that the two suspects were not infected with the HIV virus, according to French diplomats, even though that appears to be untrue. A document released by government officials to French diplomats in August showed that one man had tested positive while in prison four years ago. Alexandre will receive word only in January whether he was infected during the alleged attack. “There is a lot of malfunctioning, but from where I do not know,” says a French diplomat in Dubai, explaining the bungling over the AIDS tests. In late October, the French foreign ministry added a warning for travelers about crime in Dubai.
French officials in Dubai have offered Alexandre diplomatic protection this week in Dubai; he and his mother fly from Paris on Tuesday to attend the trial. “Let’s be honest, I never wanted to go back but I want justice, so I have to,” Alexandre told TIME in Paris on Monday.
The bungled police reports about the suspects’ AIDS status has helped spread the controversy all the way to Hollywood. Sharon Stone is preparing to host a major fund-raiser in Dubai on December 10 for the Foundation for AIDS Research, or amfAR, for which she heads global fund-raising. The event will be part of the Dubai International Film Festival, and Stone’s trip to Dubai has garnered major coverage in Dubai’s Gulf News daily. On Friday evening, as TIME met Véronique Robert in a Paris café, amfAR’s organizers in Manhattan called her to express concern about Alexandre’s alleged attack and ask what she wanted them to do about the Dubai event. The organization’s chief executive officer, Kevin Frost, says has not ruled out canceling the fund-raiser — whose tables are selling for between $20,000 and $100,000 each. But he said amfAR sees the event as “an opportunity to raise awareness about AIDS in a part of the world where there’s an incredible amount of denial about the issue.” Véronique Robert says she hopes the organization will speak about her son’s attack during its high-profile event. For Dubai, accustomed to glowing articles about its astonishing growth and impressive architecture, that would indeed be rare — and unsettling — publicity.