DUBAI // Two men sentenced to three months in prison each for threatening and conning another man out of Dh17 million have won their appeal and walked free on Sunday.
The pair denied threatening to kill the man and his family if they were not paid Dh17m when they appeared at Dubai Criminal Court in September last year, and also when they appeared at the appeals court.
Pakistani accuser A J, 40, told prosecutors that in 2012 he was introduced to Emirati defendant O A, 33, and Pakistani defendant B K, 36, through an old friend.
His friend, identified in records as Jamsheed, convinced him that the two men would help him to open his own financial bidding company but, in return, they would be partners.
“We agreed that I will provide the capital for the company, which was Dh17m, and I collected it from a number of businessmen in Pakistan,” A J said.
Only Dh2m from the total amount was his, he said, while the rest was from the Pakistani businessmen.
In April 2014, he said the two defendants met him in a garage in Al Aweer, where he was introduced to two men who “told me that I will be killed and my family as well if I didn’t pay money to the defendants”, A J said.
Police were notified and O A and B K were referred to court on charges of issuing threats to kill the accuser if he did not pay them money. The criminal court convicted them but the appeals court on Sunday found them both not guilty.
salamir@thenational.ae
