DUBAI: A former Cabinet minister in the United Arab Emirates was sentenced to two years in jail after being convicted of fraud, his lawyer said yesterday.
Hussein Al-Jaziri, who is defending former state minister Khalifa Bakhit Al-Falasi in the case, said he would appeal the verdict issued on Monday and that his client currently remained on bail.
A Dubai court acquitted 51-year-old Al-Falasi of breach of trust but convicted him of fraud for taking control of a software company after his Lebanese partner died.
Three other defendants — Al-Falasi’s son, a US citizen of Arab descent and an Indian national — went on trial in September over the seizure of the company.
Al-Falasi’s son, 26, was acquitted, while the other two were sentenced to two years in prison and subsequent deportation.
The case was brought by a Lebanese businesswoman who accused Al-Falasi of “breaching the trust of her family’s business” following the death of her brother, who was his partner.
The former minister was stripped of his post in July on the orders of UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, amid a crackdown on corruption in the business hub of Dubai.
Al-Falasi has described the case against him as “contrived and unjustified.”
