Dubai: A former minister argued that his values, principles and religion oblige him not to breach anybody's rights when he denied, in court yesterday, that he breached a Lebanese businesswoman's trust.
"I do not breach any person's right or trust… breaching anybody's trust is against my ethics, conscience and religion [Islam]. I did my utmost best and exerted all possible means to resolve the dispute amicably," the 51-year-old Emirati ex-minister, K.B., told the Dubai Cassation Court.
The former state minister approached the seven-judge panel and addressed Presiding Judge Mohammad Nabeel Riyad when he was asked to do so. K.B., an American general manager, S.A., and an Indian finance manager, P.M., had denied breaching the trust of the 37-year-old businesswoman, M.J., and coercing her to waive her stake in an information technology firm.
K.B.'s lawyer Samir Ja'afar defended in courtroom 22 yesterday: "There was no act of coercion. She was not coerced or pressured to waive her stake in the IT firm… she did that willingly and at freewill. Besides she gave an inconsistent statement that she was coerced and threatened by my client."
Addressing the judges' panel, Ja'afar said: "How could there have been coercion since she sent a bouquet of flowers and a congratulatory note when he was appointed a minister! All kinds of mutual dealings and transactions between the two parties [including the business dissolution agreement] were reached amicably. We ask the court to pronounce our client's innocence."
Advocate Abdul Moniem Bin Suwaidan, who defended S.A. and P.M., argued that all the claimant's actions confirm that she acted freely and was not bullied or coerced into signing the reconciliation and waiving her stake and that of her late brother.
"Acting upon what she claimed to be an empowerment from her late brother, when she first came to the UAE in 2005, she dismissed and hired employees in the IT company… she took many administrative decisions. She did all that at free will and she was not coerced. My clients did not commit any crime," contended Bin Suwaidan.
Presiding Judge Riyad looked at M.J., who was seated at the front desk, and asked if she had anything she wanted to tell the court. "Your honour, I was coerced and subjected to breach of trust… the suspects colluded against me and breached my rights and my brother's after his death. I am seeking justice."
Advocate Hassan Arab from Al Tamimi Advocates representing M.J. in the civil case, argued: "Our client was subject to verbal and written threat. She was coerced and pressured to sign the waiver. The defendants had a prior intention to breach her trust. We ask the court to hear prosecution witnesses who were not heard by the Court of Appeal and Misdemeanours."
