Thursday, Sep 06, 2012
Dubai: Deyaar’s former CEO, American-Lebanese Z.S, appeared in court on Thursday for the first time since his extradition from Yemen last week.
He appeared without a legal representative to defend him.
The Dubai Court of First Instance’s Presiding Judge Hamad Abdul Latif Abdul Jawad prevented Z.S.’s American lawyer James Jatras from representing him because he was unauthorised to do so under UAE laws.
When advocate Jatras approached the bench to request permission to represent Z.S, the court informed him that he was not authorised to do so unless he obtains a special permission.
It is against the UAE laws for expatriate lawyers, unregistered with the UAE’s Ministry of Justice, to represent defendants standing trial before local courts unless they are authorised to do so or obtain a special-temporary permission from the concerned authorities.
According to yesterday’s case, Z.S. denies allowing Thermo, a construction services company, to win a tender illegally so he could unlawfully gain Dh20 million.
A 61-year-old Argentinean K.M, a partner in an IT company, Thermo’s former project manager, a Canadian, F.L, and Thermo’s ex-general manager, a British, A.S, was also charged with unlawfully gaining Dh10 million from the tender.
K.M, who is on bail, had earlier pleaded not guilty. F.L. and A.S. remain at large.
Meanwhile Khaled Al Hamrani, Deyaar’s lawyer, told Gulf News he objected to the presence of Z.S.’s American lawyer and asked Presiding Judge Abdul Jawad to disallow him from communicating with the court.
Advocate Al Hamrani also asked the court to summon the chief auditor at the Rulers Court’s Financial Control Department to hear his statement.
During yesterday’s hearing, Presiding Judge Abdul Jawad addressed Z.S. by asking him if he was the defendant who escaped the country after he was granted a Dh5 million bail.
Dubai’s Attorney General Essam Eisa Al Humaidan said in a media statement yesterday that 45-year-old Z.S. will be facing a new charge after he tried to smuggling himself outside the country in an illegal way.
Al Humaidan said Z.S. will be tried before the Naturalisation and Residency Court for leaving the UAE from undesignated places.
The former CEO of Deyaar complained about his current detention centre and told the court that he has not been able to communicate with his US legal team except through the phone.
Z.S. asked Presiding Judge Abdul Jawad to adjourn the case until he appoints a new lawyer to represent him in court.
Emirati advocate Ali Abdullah Al Shamsi cancelled his power of attorney and refrained from offering any legal services to Z.S, since he absconded to Yemen immediately after he was granted bail.
Z.S. was bailed following repeated requests from his former lawyer Al Shamsi, who constantly deliberated before court panels that Z.S. missed hearings ‘due to his dangerously ailing health situation’.
The lawyer argued that his client suffered heart problems and joint disease that requires special medical care, which Al Shamsi said “is unavailable in the detention facility clinic”.
On July 12, Z.S. was released on bail after he deposited his passport and that of an Emirati guarantor plus Dh5 million [financial bond].
The American defendant absconded from the UAE in early August and was arrested in Yemen.
The Yemeni authorities extradited Z.S. to the UAE on Saturday and since then he has been taken back into provisional detention, said Al Humaidan.
“Dubai’s Public Prosecution lodged an official request to the concerned criminal court to cancel Z.S.’s bail since his arrest in Yemen.
“We requested the Yemeni authorities to extradite him after he was arrested upon a red-alert notice by the Interpol. Currently he remains in custody facing five corruption trials,” Al Humaidan told Gulf News.
Z.S. was not allowed to leave the UAE because of a court-imposed travel ban on him.
By Bassam Zaza?Legal And Court ?Correspondent
Gulf News 2012. All rights reserved.
