DUBAI // A British businessman who mocked coastguards by showing him the soles of his shoe was fined Dh5,000 yesterday.
S?B, 48, was found guilty of mocking the officer, but cleared of fishing in a banned area.
The Misdemeanours Court heard that he made the offensive gesture when two coastguards arrived to investigate complaints that he was taking pictures with his iPhone of people at a nearby beach on the Palm Jumeirah.
“I asked him for the yacht’s ownership records, which he handed over willingly, but when I asked him to follow us to the coastguard department he refused. He then mocked me by raising his foot in my face four times,” recalled one of the coastguards, S?A, 40, an Emirati.
The coastguards also claimed the yacht owner threatened to report them to his embassy.
Asked to accompany the coastguard boat to shore, the yacht owner tried to delay the journey.
“The defendant kept stalling and saying that his engine was too hot for him to drive any faster,” recalled the second coastguard, M?S. “It took us three and a half hours to reach the coastguard department, when it should take only half an hour.”
The yacht owner claimed that he had complied with the coastguards’ orders to stop fishing.
“When they asked me to follow them, I asked them what I had done wrong but they did not answer me,” he told the court.
salamir@thenational.ae
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Wenger's Arsenal reign in numbers
1,228 - games at the helm, ahead of Sunday's Premier League fixture against West Ham United.
704 - wins to date as Arsenal manager.
3 - Premier League title wins, the last during an unbeaten Invincibles campaign of 2003/04.
1,549 - goals scored in Premier League matches by Wenger's teams.
10 - major trophies won.
473 - Premier League victories.
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151 - Premier League losses.
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Aston martin DBX specs
Engine: 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: nine-speed automatic
Power: 542bhp
Torque: 700Nm
Top speed: 291kph
Price: Dh848,000
On sale: Q2, 2020
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Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
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May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
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Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
COMPANY%20PROFILE
HWJN
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