Dubai: A mother of two who started a business when her paralysed husband lost his job, faces jail after conmen disappeared with goods worth millions of dirhams. This has left her with no money to pay creditors who have filed a bounced cheque case against her.
Philomena Edison, a 39-year-old Indian expat from Kerala, told XPRESS: “I have lost everything and am desperate for a way out. I am living on the charity of my friends who are even paying for my husband’s medication and the school fees of my two daughters, 12 and six. It is so humiliating, how long can this go on?”
Dubai-based Edison said her ordeal began in 2008 when her accountant husband had a brain haemorrhage. “He was just 42 at the time. Ever since, he has been paralysed on his right side, suffers from epilepsy and is forgetful. He became unfit to take up a job, so it fell upon me to keep the family afloat. I took up the challenge and started a small business to supply building materials. But little did I know what was in store for me.”
Trading scam
She claimed she is an unsuspecting victim of a massive trading scam involving a company run by fellow Keralites. “They purchased goods worth millions of dirhams from many firms between March-June 2014. However, on June 11, I came to know that the company closed down and the owners went absconding after duping me and a number of others. I lost over Dh400,000 of my hard-earned money,” she said, adding, “It hurts that my own countrymen did this to me in a foreign country where I was trying to make an honest living.”
Edison said cheques given by the company to her and other suppliers bounced for lack of funds, following which they filed a complaint with the police. But that was only part of the story.
“I was trying to follow up on the case when I discovered to my utter shock that I myself had an arrest warrant against me. It was for a cheque worth Dh177,000 I had issued to one supplier. It went dud. I knew I was liable to make the payment but had sought time as I was left with no money. I sold all my gold in India to clear the dues. But I could only manage Dh27,000. The rest remains unpaid.”
Living on the brink with each passing day weighing on her, she said the prospect of jail is giving her nightmares. “Who will look after my ailing husband and young daughters? As an ordinary individual, I tried to reshape our humble lives in the best way I could when my husband took ill. I trusted people without a second thought, more so because they came from my own state. But now I am paying a heavy price for it.”
She alleged that a number of small traders like her are in a similar situation. “I appeal to the authorities to please look into the matter and take action. Otherwise, more unsuspecting people like us will fall prey to scamsters.”
