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Zack back in Dubai prison after deportation from Yemen

Fugitive American businessman Zack Shahin, who fled to Yemen last month after being released on bail, has been returned to the UAE, an official confirmed on Sunday.

His bail has been cancelled, Dubai’s Attorney-General Essam Al Humaidan said.

‘‘UAE law enforcement authorities have got him again in their hands and he’s in prison after his deportation from Yemen,’’ Al Humaidan said. The Public Prosecution had asked the court to cancel his bail when he disappeared, the attorney-general added.

Since Shahin had sneaked his way out of the country and not from jail, fresh charges may not be filed against him, a legal source said.

The former Deyaar CEO disappeared after he was bailed out, and the public prosecution had issued a ‘red corner notice’ for him, the attorney-general said.

The accused sneaked into Yemen but was caught by the authorities there and confined to a prison. Now that he has been brought back to the country, Al Humaidan said he will be further interrogated.

Authorities in Yemen had earlier said the American had been sent to the UAE. “Zack Shahin has been deported to the UAE at the request of the UAE government,” said a Yemeni security official, who asked not to be named under briefing rules, the Associated Press reported.

Shahin was detained in 2008 over embezzlement charges, and went on a hunger strike in jail in May. He was released on a $1.4 million bail after Washington expressed concern about his health. He slipped into Yemen from where he was arrested last month.

Last week, the businessman’s lawyer Ali Al Shamsi told Khaleej Times he was shocked and disappointed at his client’s escape to Yemen. “I have been working on his cases for more than five years. Securing his release on bail was not easy at all. Many hurdles had come in our way and eventually we overcame them for his conditional release.”

When asked whether Shahin had faked illness to walk out of jail, Al Shamsi said his former client had serious kidney problems.

He was granted bail after Al Shamsi repeatedly requested the different court benches hearing the cases to grant his client bail, citing his serious health condition. Yet, following his release, Shahin skipped two or three hearings during his trials on the same health grounds. The lawyer provided the court with medical reports citing danger to his client’s health.

Shahin, who was detained in Al Aweer Central Prison for more than four years in connection with four cases of fraud involving more than Dh300 million and misuse of powers, had gone on hunger strike to protest his long provisional detention without bail in the weeks before his release.

He has been embroiled in four cases of abuse of his post while at Deyaar and allegedly misappropriating over Dh300 million in public funds.

His release from detention was also secured after his legal team in the US exerted efforts to gain support of the US Department of State.

— news@khaleejtimes.com