Court urged to combine proceedings in two cases

Dubai: A judge faced a piquant situation yesterday when the counsel for a former CEO of Deyaar insisted that the hearing in two graft cases against his client be combined but the company's lawyer strongly objected to the request.

The Dubai Court of First Instance, chaired by Judge Al Saeed Mohammad Barghout, is trying Deyaar's former CEO, Z.S., 46, in two separate graft cases.

Z.S.'s lawyer Ali Abdullah Al Shamsi yesterday renewed his request to Presiding Judge Barghout to club his client's two graft cases so that they could be heard in the same court.

Deyaar's lawyer Khalid Al Hamrani, of Al Tamimi and Co, handed the court a counterplea in which he asked the judge to reject Al Shamsi's petition.

Massive losses

The first case involves Lebanese-American Z.S. and eight other suspects accused of orchestrating various financial irregularities that caused losses worth Dh237 million. The second case involves Z.S. and former minister and former chairman of Dubai Islamic Bank's board of directors, M.K., who are jointly charged with defrauding Deyaar of almost Dh56.6 million.

"I insist that the court take a decision whether to approve or reject my petition to club both cases," Al Shamsi said in courtroom nine. "We ask the court to reject that request because the two crimes are not connected," argued Al Hamrani.

During yesterday's hearing, chief prosecutor Khalid Al Zarouni handed the court a modified bill of charges.