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Deyaar ex-CEO released on bail

Former CEO of Deyaar Zack Shahin has been released on bail pending trial after more than four years in jail, according to an AP report.

Shahin was met by an American consular officer upon his release late Thursday night, AP quoted Jeffrey Ladenson, spokesman of the US Embassy in the UAE, as saying.

Khaleej Times reported on July 11 that 52-year-old Shahin, an American businessman of Lebanese origin, was granted bail by Dubai Criminal Court Chief Justice Ahmed Abdulla on July 5 and would be released by this weekend when his team would deposit the Dh5-million bond, which was one of the bail conditions.

Presiding Judge Hamad Abdel Latif Abdel Jawad, announcing that the court would implement the Chief Justice’s decision, said as per the bail conditions, Shahin cannot travel abroad and will have to attend all hearings. Violation of the bail conditions could cost him the Dh5-million bond as well as his bail.

He also had to deposit the passports of him and an Emirati guarantor in the court for bail.

Shahin has been embroiled in four cases of alleged abuse of his position while at Deyaar and misappropriating over Dh300 million in public funds. He had in recent weeks gone on hunger strike to protest his long provisional detention without bail.

His lawyer Ali Al Shamsi has repeatedly requested the court benches hearing Shahin’s cases to grant his client bail. Al Shamsi has been telling the court that his client was seriously ill and he could not attend the hearings fearing that his condition might deteriorate. He provided the court with medical reports stating that his client’s health had been damaged by the long detention.

(With inputs from AP)

news@khaleejtimes.com