Embezzler Al Boom screamed at officers to leave farm, Dubai court hears

DUBAI // The property magnate Abed Al Boom, convicted of embezzling Dh960 million from more than 3,700 investors, screamed at court officers when they visited his farm as part of an order to evaluate his assets.

Al Boom, whose jail terms of more than 900 years were suspended by the Court of Appeal last November as an order was issued to calculate his assets' worth, refused to unlock doors and demanded the officers leave, a court heard yesterday.

One officer, SA, said that when they visited the farm in the Murgham area of Dubai on December 12 last year, the farm's security guards let him and his two colleagues inside only after he threatened to call police.

"They refused to let us in, so I told them I will report them to police," said the court officer, 41.

The three officers then visited one of the farm's villas.

"Some rooms were locked so we broke the door to one after I made a call to the judge," the officer said.

Then Al Boom arrived and "started screaming at us and ordering us to leave".

The officer called the judge again after Al Boom refused to open the rest of the rooms and was told to break the locks.

"Fearing the defendant would aggravate the situation, I called a lawyer and reported the incident to police," said the officer.

AB, 40, another of the court officers, said: "When Al Boom came he threw us out of the farm and said [it] was exempt from the calculating-assets order."

Al Boom, who was not in the Dubai Misdemeanours Court yesterday, was sentenced to six months in jail for preventing the officers from carrying out their duty, in breach of a court order.