Lawyers defend five in Sama Dubai graft case
They argue firm was founded as a private company, not a public one
Dubai: A lawyer wondered in court yesterday whether tipping a porter of a government-owned hotel is considered a bribe, when he defended his client charged with abusing his public service and accepting bribes.
Advocate Saeed Al Ghailani, representing Damac's former property development director, 32-year-old Syrian A.H. before the Dubai Cassation Court, said: "If any person tips a porter or a bartender at any government-owned hotel, then would that person be charged with bribing a public sector employee? My client's job did not require him to sell or buy lands. He implemented his boss's instructions and used to transfer buyers' data to Sama Dubai only."
The Appeals Court had jailed A.H., M.M., Lagoon's Emirati former sales manager, and M.S., Lagoon's ex-sales executive, who doesn't carry documents, one year in jail for exchanging a bribe worth Dh650,000.
A.M., the 43-year-old Emirati former CEO, of Lagoon, a Sama Dubai company, was convicted of abusing his duty as a public servant and accepting bribe. He was jailed for three years and fined Dh2.89 million and ordered to repay the same amount to Lagoons.
M.M., his 23-year-old compatriot N.Q. and M.S. were handed a three-year imprisonment for taking Dh4.8 million in bribe against unlawfully selling/reselling lands belonging to Sama Dubai. They were also jointly fined Dh4.8 million and ordered to repay the amount to Lagoons.
Al Ghailani argued in his defence that when the incident happened Sama Dubai was not government owned — it later became so.
M.S.'s lawyer Mohammad Al Reda said: "The head of the legal department of Dubai Holding, which owns Sama Dubai, testified that Sama Dubai is private… Sama Dubai was established upon the Companies Law in Dubai and not upon a ruler's decree. M.S. didn't abuse public service or collect a bribe."
Ali Al Shamsi, M.M.'s lawyer, contended: "The case file did not include any document which showed that M.M. was assigned to do any public service. The appeals verdict failed to show that he was a public servant."
Lawyers Tarek Al Qasim and Yaqoub Shaheen, who defended A.M. and N.Q. respectively, said before Presiding Judge Mohammad Nabil Riyad that their clients did not abuse their duties as public servants.
The Cassation Court will issue its verdict on April 5.
The Appeal Court had earlier acquitted A.H. of aiding and abetting M.A. and M.S. to collect a bribe worth Dh2.3 million over a three-land deal.
The same court confirmed the acquittal of M.A. and N.Q. of revealing the company's secrets by providing an investment house with details about their clients, and information and prices of properties owned by Sama Dubai.
Prosecutors submitted an official letter earlier stating that the funds of Sama Dubai are public.
