Bail granted for Dubai fraud accused
The Age
Thursday October 22, 2009
TWO Australian executives jailed in Dubai for the past nine months will be freed while they fight fraud charges €” to the immense relief of their wives."I was overwhelmed and cried tears of relief," Matt Joyce's wife Angela Higgins said from Dubai yesterday after he and his colleague, Marcus Lee, were granted bail on Tuesday. "All the waiting and hoping caught up with me."Mr Joyce, 43, and Mr Lee, 40, hope to be released within a week €” once they each have raised a million dirhams ($A294,000) bail money and arranged for a local to hand over their passport as security.Mr Joyce was managing director of Dubai's biggest development, the Waterfront, where Mr Lee was head of commercial operations.An Australian company, Sunland, alleges it was duped into paying a "consulting fee" of more than $14 million to buy a parcel of land on the Waterfront.Property values have crashed since Sunland paid that fee to another Australian company, Prudentia, which claimed it had established a right to purchase the plot. However, Dubai authorities allege it had no such right.Mr Joyce's Australian lawyer Martin Amad said yesterday: "Matt has never received a cent of that Sunland money."Mr Lee's lawyer John Sneddon points out that it has never been alleged his client gained, or even stood to gain, from the deal.Mr Amad said: "This was the first time the case has been assessed by an independent judge and he granted the application. We believe this indicates what the court thinks about the strength of the case."He said the case could drag on for a year.Meanwhile, in the Federal Court in Brisbane, Sunland is suing Mr Joyce, Prudentia, its director Angus Reed and a Prudentia subsidiary.Dubai has declared Mr Reed and the Waterfront's former senior legal counsel, Anthony Brearley, as fugitives. Both are in Melbourne and will be tried in their absence.
© 2009 The Age