Ali Khalaf al-Hosani Law firm won the most complicated case within 4 months of national interest……
Diplomat, cleared of kidnapping charge, Dh2m theft
Court acquits duo after lawyer argued law enforcement procedures were carried out unlawfully
Bassam Za’za’, Legal and Court Correspondent
16:15 April 9, 2017
Dubai: A consul general has been acquitted of kidnapping a businessman and stealing signed cheques worth Dh2 million from him after his lawyer argued that law enforcement procedures were unlawfully implemented against him.
The Chinese man, who is the delegated consul general of an African country, and his countryman salesman had pleaded not guilty before the Dubai Court of First Instance and denied the accusation of kidnapping the Chinese businessman and stealing Dh2 million from him in cheques.
The consul general and the salesman had also refuted the charges of threatening the businessman, assaulting and torturing him with a taser gun and forcing him to sign four cheques for Dh2 million.
On Sunday, presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi acquitted the two Chinese men [the consul general of the African country and the salesman] due to lack of corroborated evidence. t
The consul general’s lawyer Ali Khalaf Al Hosani argued before the court that law enforcement procedures were carried out improperly and wrongly against his client, who was questioned in the absence of a translator.
“My client refuted the businessman’s claims that he had kidnapped him since the case first surfaced at the police station … he pleaded not guilty before the police and prosecutors. His name was not listed in the prosecutors’ search and arrest warrant. Besides, he was arrested before the warrant had been issued. All the law procedures were enforced unlawfully against him. The claimant did not hear or see my client at the time when he claimed he had been kidnapped,” argued lawyer Al Hosani.
The businessman lodged his case out of malice, according to lawyer Al Hosani, who said prosecutors submitted evidence that were insufficient enough to indict his client.
Prosecutors had charged the two men and a third suspect, who remains at large, of using violence against the businessman and kidnapping him.
The businessman alleged that he was kidnapped from a parking lot of International City’s China Cluster.
“I had gone to deliver some goods to a client when someone pulled me out of my car, blindfolded me and forced me into another car. They drove me around for 30 minutes and then stopped and moved me into a room. They assaulted me and used a taser gun on me. They also pointed a knife in my face and forced me to sign four cheques for around Dh2 million,” the businessman claimed.
Al Hosani refuted the businessman’s claims. He told the court: “The claimant gave an inconsistent statement. Law enforcement officers did not carry out serious investigations. My client’s confession is void since he was questioned in the absence of a Chinese translator. Since the beginning of this case, my client introduced himself to the law enforcement officers as a consul general … despite the fact that he has diplomatic immunity, the officers apprehended him and did not communicate with the pertinent ministry and notify them that a diplomat had been arrested. Prosecutors also should have contacted the ministry and informed them, but they did not do so.”
A police lieutenant testified that the victim’s wife informed them over the phone that her husband had been kidnapped and was forced to sign cheques by the alleged kidnappers.
Al Hosani further said: “When the claimant testified in court, the suspects were asked to pronounce their names loudly so that the claimant could identify their voices ……. and he did not recognize them.”
Presiding judge Al-Shamsi dismissed the suspects’ accusations and acquitted them. Sunday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.