Dubai: A court judge has requested an internal auditor to present two vital auditing reports during the upcoming hearing for Tatweer's real estate developer Mizin, in their alleged corruption case.

Neither of the reports were submitted earlier in the case.

Presiding Judge Al Saeed Mohammad Barghout on Tuesday asked the Egyptian director of the Financial Control Department of the Ruler's Court to present Tatweer's internal auditing report and that of KPMG — a global auditing firm — when the Dubai Court of First Instance reconvenes on March 9.

Mizin's Emirati former executive manager, S.H. and a Lebanese engineer, J.H. earlier pleaded not guilty and strongly rejected charges of bribery and financial irregularities amounting to nearly Dh49 million.

Advocates Samir Jaafar and Ali Abdullah Al Shamsi, who are defending S.H. and J.H. respectively, grilled Egyptian director, M.M. during a four-hour cross-examination hearing.

New evidence

During the hearing M.M. handed the jury new documents, which Presiding Judge Barghout asked to be translated and re-submitted at the next hearing.

M.M. testified that S.H. offered J.H. discounts and allowed him to miss payment deadlines for the properties he had bought. "He was granted two different sorts of privileges," said M.M.

He also claimed that S.H. ignored instructions by Tatweer's CEO not to give out privileges.

When Jaafar asked M.M. about other property sales and queried which were sold to investors at a discount and with better privileges than the one sold by S.H. to J.H., he said he could not comment or speculate unless he audited each deal separately.

"There are some properties which were sold upon decisions from Tawteer's administration ... and those deals were struck upon special reasons known by Tatweer management," added the witness.

Around 12.15pm, Presiding Judge Barghout adjourned the case until March 9 for the continuation of M.M.'s statement. He is considered a key prosecution witness in the case.

According to the arraignment sheet, prosecutors charged S.A. with abusing his duty and accepting Dh1.9 million in bribes (from J.H.) to grant him favours in booking and buying land and special units, which belonged to Mizin's projects.

He was also charged with unlawfully giving Dh49 million in discounts on purchases.

S.A. was additionally charged with showing intent to work against the interests of Mizin by accepting the bribe and allowing J.H. to earn an illegitimate profit on the deals.