Corruption team in Dubai makes its case

An independent team investigating alleged corruption in Dubai companies begins laying out its findings in court.

An independent team investigating alleged corruption in Dubai companies began laying out its findings in court yesterday, having been given unprecedented powers of scrutiny. The team, led by Mohammed Mustafa Hussain, was appointed by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, the Ruler of Dubai and Vice President of the UAE, to investigate dealings at the developer Deyaar.
Mr Hussain told the Dubai Court of First Instance that an intricate web of land deals and transactions had created a massive fraud. He was giving evidence in the case of SA and IJ, two former Deyaar employees who stand accused of bribery involving the sale of land. Both men have been on bail but only SA, an Emirati and former member of the Deyaar board, was present at the hearing, where he was represented by three lawyers.
In one case, the pair allegedly bought a piece of land and engineered its sale to Deyaar days later for almost twice what they paid. SA, who was also an executive of Dubai Islamic Bank, had bought the land in Dubai Marina for Dh415.8 million (US$113.28m) on September 23, 2007. Two days later it was sold to Deyaar for Dh800 million. In addition, Mr Hussain alleged, SA made a personal commission of Dh11.5 million.
As Dubai Islamic Bank and its subsidiary Deyaar are both government-owned entities, their employees are prohibited from accepting commissions. The land deal had been struck between SA and IJ, who "initially claimed they did not know each other". However, Mr Hussain said his team had unearthed evidence that the two had been business partners before. "When confronted about their history, IJ claimed that he was simply acting as the middleman for Deyaar," said Mr Hussain. IJ had persuaded Deyaar executives that the Dh800 million price represented "an opportunity".
During his investigation, Mr Hussain could find no one in Deyaar who could account for the doubling in the price of the land. "The people we interviewed could not even give a single reason for the price increase," he told the court. He also provided evidence of a farm and another parcel of land that were sold in Al Ain, allegedly earning another defendant, AA, also a Deyaar employee, Dh73,647 in kickbacks.
Dubai's public prosecution has charged 10 former Deyaar employees with a range of offences including bribery, forgery and breach of trust, swindling and supplying company secrets to competitors. Speaking outside court, one of the public prosecutors said that Sheikh Mohammed had given the investigative team carte blanche to look into the Deyaar allegations. By law, they were allowed to question anyone, and to demand any documents or files. The team reported directly to Sheikh Mohammed.
Sheikh Mohammed publicly stated his firm 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." There was, he said, "no room for corruption and the corrupt", adding: "In all corruption cases, people are not only prosecuted and punished, administrative and legal holes that they exploited to commit their crimes are plugged."
@Email:[e-mail]