Tuesday, Nov 10, 2015

Dubai: Deyaar’s former chief executive officer won his legal battle after Dubai’s highest court cleared him of abusing his office and misappropriating Dh30 million through an illegal tender.

The American-Lebanese Z.S. had pleaded innocent and firmly refuted the accusation of abusing his former job as Deyaar’s CEO and committing financial irregularities by pushing through the illegal tender with Thermo, a construction services company.

The Dubai Cassation Court rejected prosecutors’ appeal and confirmed Z.S’s acquittal.

Defending the ex-CEO before the Cassation Court, lawyer Nabih Badr contended: “My client did not commit any financial irregularity and acted as per the powers and authority granted to him during his tenure as Deyaar’s CEO [formerly]. He did not breach any of the company’s rules and did not forge any documents or appropriate any money.”

Advocate Badr asked the court to reject prosecutors’ appeal and uphold his client’s innocence.

Presiding judge Mustafa Al Shennawi cleared Z.S. over lack of corroborated evidence.

In June, the Dubai Appeal Court overturned the primary ruling against Z.S. after the First Instance’Court jailed Z.S. for 10 years and ordered him to jointly pay a fine of Dh30 million with three other convicts.

In 2013, the Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced in absentia a 61-year-old Argentinian, K.M, a partner in an information technology company, Thermo’s Canadian ex-project manager, F.L., and Thermo’s British ex-general manager, A.S., to 10 years in jail each for making illegal gains to the tune of Dh10 million from the tender.

The crime happened before 2009.

The case [known by the Thermo graft case] pended between the three Courts [First Instance, Appeal and Cassation] five times between 2013 and 2015.

Z.S. is the only convict who remains in Dubai Central Jail pending one last trial in another graft case.

K.M., F.L. and A.S. remain at large.

Prosecutors had accused the defendants of deliberately inflicting losses on Deyaar, a company in which Dubai Government owns a stake.

Z.S. pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The former CEO had been in custody since April 2008 before he stood on various trials.

The ruling in the so-called Thermo case has become irrevocable.

By Bassam Zaza Legal and Court Correspondent

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