Two ex-Nakheel employees sent for trial

Two Australians, former employees of the Dubai property company Nakheel, have been charged after a corruption investigation.

DUBAI // Two Australians, former employees of the property company Nakheel, have been charged after a corruption investigation. Matt Joyce, the managing director of Nakheel's Dubai Waterfront project, and a Nakheel colleague, Marcus Lee, were arrested on January 25 after being accused of trying to bribe a public official.
The Dubai Public Prosecution confirmed yesterday that the two men had been charged, but details of the charge would not be released for several days. Their lawyer said he also was awaiting clarification. "It is not yet known to me what they are being charged with," the defence attorney Martin Amad said, from his home in Victoria, Australia. "I received the documents last week from the Public Prosecutor and am awaiting their translation to learn exactly what my clients have been charged with. Whatever the charges, my clients are totally innocent, as they have done absolutely nothing illegal."
Mr Amad said he was disappointed that Mr Joyce and Mr Lee had been incarcerated since January without charges. According to Mr Amad, both men had been held in solitary confinement at Dubai's Alawiya Prison for seven weeks before being moved to another prison, where they are now being housed with 100 other inmates. "I spoke with Mr Joyce [on Tuesday] and he is utterly devastated by the fact that he is imprisoned," Mr Amad said. "His wife and three children are in Dubai and are struggling to cope with the uncertainty of the case. The long imprisonment and recent charges have had a dramatic impact on them all."
Mr Amad said that both men received weekly visits from their wives, but that contact was not allowed. "They see them through a glass window only," he said. In February, a spokesman for the Public Prosecution confirmed the men were being held over accusations that they had tried to bribe a public servant. Since Mr Joyce's and Mr Lee's arrest in January, the Australian foreign minister, Stephen Smith, has made several pleas to the UAE Foreign Minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, to secure their release. The most recent plea, his third, was made last week in Cairo when both ministers met, according to The Age, an Australian newspaper.
During the past 18 months, 91 Australians have been detained in the UAE, the majority in Dubai. No date has been set for the trial of Mr Joyce and Mr Lee. Their case is the latest of several corruption investigations appearing before the Dubai Court after Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Ruler of Dubai and Vice President of the UAE, ordered the formation of an anti-corruption squad late last year. The team, led by Mohammed Mustafa Hussein, an Egyptian, was assigned to investigate corruption at Deyaar Property Development, but since has been empowered to investigate all of Dubai.
Since the formation of the squad, corruption cases have been filed against several people working for Nakheel, Deyaar, Sama Dubai, Mizin, Dubai Industrial City, which is a part of Tatweer, and others. Charges have included misappropriation of funds, bribery, overcharging and undercharging for properties, as well as illegal commissions and kickbacks. Sheikh Mohammed publicly stated his support for the investigations during an internet question-and-answer session in April.
"These cases are a sign of the Government's clear interest in improving management of firms and its commitment to principles of proper accountability," he said. "No one in the Emirates is above the law and accountability."
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