A former employee of Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) who had filed a lawsuit in the US against the bank and a Dubai government official, claiming that he was tortured while in detention, has ‘temporarily' withdrawn the case, according to his lawyer.
Rafatul Islam Usmani, a Pakistani banker and former vice-president of finance and strategy at DIB, is accused of taking bribes to help transactions for Turkish company CCH International.
He has been under detention in Dubai since May 2008.
The lawsuit was filed by Usmani on June 2 at Miami District Court under the US Alien Tort Claims Act, which gives US district courts jurisdiction over certain cases abroad when "committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the US".
Michael Diaz, Usmani's lawyer, who is based in Miami, confirmed via e-mail that the lawsuit has been temporarily dropped until his client is released.
"Even though we will aggressively seek justice for our client, what is important at present is to do whatever is humanly possible to free him from this appalling unending detention," he said.
Diaz claims Usmani has been held in the UAE without any credible evidence against him. "We have information that he has been tortured by them to the extent that he confessed to unknown criminal acts," Diaz said, adding "our client has had limited access to legal counsel and his family since he was detained".
A Dubai Public Prosecution official confirmed his detention, but said a statement would be made only after the investigations are concluded.
Usmani's lawyers claim that in early 2007, he received tip-off that one of the bank's business partners, CCH International, was paying "irregular commissions" and passing on DIB credit to clients at high rates. They say he was forced to resign, but kept on unpaid pending investigations after informing the bank of the allegations.
How the high and mighty have fallen...
Some of the other big names being investigated by Dubai authorities:
- Zack Shahin, former CEO of Deyaar: Arrested in March
- Charbel Boutros, Lebanese sales executive at Deyaar: Arrested in April
- Omair Mooraj, Middle East head of Islamic banking at JP Morgan Chase: Arrested in June
- Erin Nil, Turkish entrepreneur: Arrested in June
- Zia Usmani, Rafatul Usmani's brother: Arrested in June
- Adel Al Shirawi, Vice-Chairman of Istithmar World: Arrested in August
- Feras Kalthoum, Istithmar World's CFO: Arrested in August
- Arthur Fitzwilliam, owner of Plantation Holding: Arrested in September
- Abdullah Nasser Abdullah, Tamweel's deputy group CEO: Arrested in September
- Sami Al Hashemi, CEO of Mizin: Arrested in October
Your comments
Zia Usmani, Rafat Usmani's brother was not arrested in June as this article states. He has been running a successful consultancy in Conyers, GA, USA, since he left Dubai in late May.
Anonymous, USA
Posted: November 27, 2008, 09:48
