• Home
• /
• Crime

Deyaar ex-chief not out on bail yet

The former CEO of Deyaar, Z.S., is still in the Central Prison as the conditions for his bail have not been fully met.

A source in the legal team representing Z.S. confirmed that the former CEO has not deposited the Dh5-million financial bond required for his release. The source expected it to happen by the end of the week.

Z.S. has been asked to deposit Dh5 million and the passports of him and an Emirati guarantor in the court.

An official at the Central Prison also confirmed Z.S. is still listed in their records as being in detention. Eissam Al Tamimi, lawyer in the legal team representing Deyaar, confirmed Z.S. was granted conditional bail last week.

Deyaar former CEO, who had been held for more than four years in connection with four graft cases of fraud involving more than Dh300 million and misuse of power, 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 Z.S.’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.

The American citizen of Lebanese descent has been embroiled in four cases of alleged abuse of his position while at Deyaar and appropriating over Dh300 million in public funds. Last Thursday, Dubai Criminal Court Chief Justice Ahmed Abdullah granted 45-year-old Z.S. conditional bail.

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

mary@khaleejtimes.com