UAE | Crime
Emirati recounts his ordeal after defaulting on loan
An Emirati was forced to rough it out on the streets after defaulting on a loan of Dh100,000 and claims he is unable to find a job because police have seized his passport.
- By Bassma Al Jandaly, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:35 September 25, 2008
- Image Credit: Karl Jeffs/Gulf News
- Mohammad Saleh Juma Mubarak outside the block of apartments where he lives in Al Baraha, Deira.
Dubai: An Emirati was forced to rough it out on the streets after defaulting on a loan of Dh100,000 and claims he is unable to find a job because police have seized his passport.
Mohammad Saleh Juma Mubarak, 31, says he has reached a point where he cannot take his ordeal of three years any longer.
Mubarak said he took the loan on behalf of a relative who did not return the money. He said he used to have a government job but lost it after failing to repay the loan.
He said he approached Abu Dhabi Police for help in 2004, and was told at the time that there was a section specifically for people like him which provided assistance in paying back the default amount.
"I gave them my passport and the police section used to take all my salary for the loan," he recalls.
Afraid to approach police
When he lost his job, Mubarak claims he ended up in jail. He said the police held back his passport and did not help him in paying back the loan.
"My passport expired and I cannot work without a valid passport. I am living on the street. I have no money, no job and the police are not responding to my pleas to allow me to renew my passport," he said.
The police apparently told him they would help him renew his passport but only if he brought along a copy of his identification card and deposited a fee of Dh55 at the court.
"I am afraid to go to them because every time I go there, they put me in jail," he alleged.
"If I cannot work how will I repay my loan," he asks. "I need my passport in order to work and to live a normal life," he said.
Mubarak said a group of Arab expatriates found him sleeping on the roadside in Dubai six months ago and offered him a place to stay. "They did not believe it when I told them I am an Emirati but helped me by offering me a place to temporarily," he said.
He said his parents had divorced years ago were too taken up with their own lives.
Gulf News contacted Abu Dhabi Police and an officer confirmed Mubarak's passport was being withheld because he had a loan default against his name.
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