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Concerns grow for Australians held in Dubai (re: Sunland)
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NUR
Mar 19, 2013, 9:16:39 AM3/19/13
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http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2013/s3719346.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 19/03/2013
Reporter: Matt Peacock
Two Australians at the centre of a property deal gone sour have been
held in Dubai on corruption charges despite a Victorian Supreme Court
ruling them innocent and a former Australian Prime Minister
championing their case.
Transcript
LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: For the past four years two Australians have
been under house arrest in the Gulf state of Dubai detained
indefinitely with their families facing what they claim are concocted
charges of which they're innocent.
Matthew Joyce and Marcus Lee are accused of fraud against their former
employer, a property development company owned by the Emir of Dubai.
They've remained under house arrest despite an Australian court ruling
that the case against them is fanciful and unreliable.
The Australian Government is accused of abandoning the two men to
their fate in a land where the rule of law is shaky at best.
Matt Peacock reports.
MATT PEACOCK, REPORTER: It was the world's biggest building boom, a
gold rush for developers.
When it went bust during the global financial crisis a criminal
investigation into a web of business dealings trapped two Australians
Marcus Lee and Matthew Joyce and their families still detained in
Dubai after four years.
JOHN SNEDDON, LAWYER FOR MARCUS LEE: I'm very concerned for their
welfare. I've watched my clients deteriorate remarkably over the
course of the four years I've been involved in this case.
MATT PEACOCK: Arrested in January 2009, Lee and Joyce spent seven
weeks in solitary confinement in a police lock up. They were kept in
jail another four months before they learnt about the corruption
charges against them.
Their wives had to surrender their passports to secure their husbands'
bail. They're not allowed to leave Dubai.
JOHN SNEDDON: The conditions are terrible, really. Both Marcus and his
wife Julie are in a very bad financial and medical situation. They've
had to sell everything they own and their health obviously has
suffered immensely having spent four years in this pressure cooker
that they're in at the moment in Dubai.
MATT PEACOCK: They blame their predicament on evidence provided to the
Dubai authorities by the Gold Coast developer Sunland, but its
executive chairman Soheil Abedian is unapologetic. He's broken his
media silence talking exclusively to 7:30.
SOHEIL ABEDIAN, SUNLAND GROUP: I feel sorry for the family. I think
their family they don't deserve what has happened to them.
MATT PEACOCK: And the men?
SOHEIL ABEDIAN: And I believe any single individual that is in any
foreign jurisdiction is involved in our kind of business they should
uphold the law of that country.
MATT PEACOCK: In 2006 Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum dreamed of
turning his tiny State Dubai into a tourist Mecca.
(EXTRACT FROM ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN)
VOICEOVER: The Prince Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has a $2
billion plan to save his country. He's ordered his kingdom to transfer
itself into the world's number one luxury tourist destination. And the
Crown Prince has a history of getting what he wants.
(END OF EXTRACT)
KARL FENDER, ARCHITECT: Dubai before the GFC was just amazing. It was
a matter of construction that you've never seen before in your life as
an architect or a builder.
MATT PEACOCK: Among the flood of ex-pats working for the sheik were
two Australians, Matthew Joyce in charge of a subsidiary called Dubai
waterfront and his commercial director Marcus Lee. Also joining the
stampede for a piece of the action in Dubai was Gold Coast developer
Sunland, headed by Soheil Abedian.
SOHEIL ABEDIAN: The market was one of the strongest market that
anybody knows from the time that somebody purchased a block of land
until the settlement usually an average seven times it will change
hand before the property would settle.
MATT PEACOCK: It was hot..
SOHEIL ABEDIAN: It was very hot.
MATT PEACOCK: The deal that landed the two Australians in hot water
behind bars in Dubai involved a key block of waterfront land. Sunland
was planning a joint venture with another Australian Angus Reid and
his company Prudentia to buy the block but just before the purchase
Sunland decided to go it alone and paid Prudentia $14 million to walk
away. Sunland bought the block itself and looked set to make a
handsome profit.
But in 2008 the global financial crisis burst the bubble.
KARL FENDER: Our activity in Dubai stopped overnight with the advent
of the GFC. It was sudden and it was dramatic.
MATT PEACOCK: The Dubai authorities launched a series of
investigations into foreign deals. Sunland's chief officer in Dubai,
David Brown, was arrested as authorities investigated whether the $14
million payment was a bribe. Brown then accused Joyce and Lee of
fraud. He also claimed to the Dubai prosecutor that the $14 million
was paid because Matthew Joyce had convinced him Prudentia had first
rights over the property. Sunland's chairman, Soheil Abedian is
standing by this accusation.
SOHEIL ABEDIAN: If I do anything wrong in Dubai I deserved to be
punished as well. If somebody from Dubai come here and does something
that is illegal the judiciary will ultimately be the judge.
MATT PEACOCK: In fact an Australian court has ruled on the case. After
Sunland sued Joyce and Prudentia in the Victorian Supreme Court for
misleading behaviour the judge found its case was hopeless and
launched the ulterior Motive of releasing Joyce in Dubai. He also
found the story about Joyce and Lee was invented and the evidence
Brown and Abedian was fanciful, inaccurate and not believable. Sunland
is appealing the judgment.
MATT PEACOCK: They're damning comments to be made about you though,
they virtually accuse you of being a liar?
SOHEIL ABEDIAN: They have said that I am a liar but anybody who knows
me, and you can pick up the phone from anybody, they will say that my
whole being is about righteousness.
MATT PEACOCK: While Sunland continues to insist that Matthew Joyce is
guilty, despite the Victorian ruling, it now admits that Marcus Lee
has done nothing wrong.
SOHEIL ABEDIAN: From Sunland's side we did not have any claim against
Mr Marcus Lee. Mr Marcus Lee has nothing to do with that case as long
as we know.
JOHN SNEDDON: Well the problem is that that's not what Sunland said to
the authorities in Dubai in January and February 2009, Sunland's man
in Dubai, David Brown gave two written statements to the Dubai
authority in which he outlined his theory that Marcus was involved in
this bizarre conspiracy to deceive Sunland. It's all well and good for
them to say now they think he's innocent but that's not what they've
said to the authorities in Dubai.
MATT PEACOCK: The Victorian court also described Sunland's stock
exchange statements that it had not been under investigation for
bribery in Dubai as misleading and it's referred them to the
Australian security and investments commission.
After four years detention in the Arab emirate, both Marcus Lee and
Matthew Joyce, having paid huge legal fees and expenses, have nearly
run out of money.
MALCOLM FRASER, FMR PRIME MINISTER: If Sunland had nothing to fear why
won't their people go back to Dubai as they've been subpoenaed to do
to give evidence, evidence which if properly examined and cross
examination will show that Joyce and Lee are innocent.
MATT PEACOCK: The former prime minister Malcolm Fraser has urged the
Australian Government to take stronger action to see the two men
released.
MALCOLM FRASER: If the case is to go on and on another four years
before the courts a very probable conviction, 99 per cent conviction
rate for aliens tried in Dubai which is pretty high, I believe the
Government should have done much more, especially because of the
judgment of the Victorian Supreme Court which has in the most emphatic
terms said that these two Australians are innocent.
JOHN SNEDDON: It's a tragedy, it's a true tragedy for all concerned.
I'm only Marcus's lawyer but there are a lot of other Australians tied
up in this and particularly Matt Joyce and his family. This is a
dreadful situation.
LEIGH SALES: Matt Peacock reporting.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 19/03/2013
Reporter: Matt Peacock
Two Australians at the centre of a property deal gone sour have been
held in Dubai on corruption charges despite a Victorian Supreme Court
ruling them innocent and a former Australian Prime Minister
championing their case.
Transcript
LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: For the past four years two Australians have
been under house arrest in the Gulf state of Dubai detained
indefinitely with their families facing what they claim are concocted
charges of which they're innocent.
Matthew Joyce and Marcus Lee are accused of fraud against their former
employer, a property development company owned by the Emir of Dubai.
They've remained under house arrest despite an Australian court ruling
that the case against them is fanciful and unreliable.
The Australian Government is accused of abandoning the two men to
their fate in a land where the rule of law is shaky at best.
Matt Peacock reports.
MATT PEACOCK, REPORTER: It was the world's biggest building boom, a
gold rush for developers.
When it went bust during the global financial crisis a criminal
investigation into a web of business dealings trapped two Australians
Marcus Lee and Matthew Joyce and their families still detained in
Dubai after four years.
JOHN SNEDDON, LAWYER FOR MARCUS LEE: I'm very concerned for their
welfare. I've watched my clients deteriorate remarkably over the
course of the four years I've been involved in this case.
MATT PEACOCK: Arrested in January 2009, Lee and Joyce spent seven
weeks in solitary confinement in a police lock up. They were kept in
jail another four months before they learnt about the corruption
charges against them.
Their wives had to surrender their passports to secure their husbands'
bail. They're not allowed to leave Dubai.
JOHN SNEDDON: The conditions are terrible, really. Both Marcus and his
wife Julie are in a very bad financial and medical situation. They've
had to sell everything they own and their health obviously has
suffered immensely having spent four years in this pressure cooker
that they're in at the moment in Dubai.
MATT PEACOCK: They blame their predicament on evidence provided to the
Dubai authorities by the Gold Coast developer Sunland, but its
executive chairman Soheil Abedian is unapologetic. He's broken his
media silence talking exclusively to 7:30.
SOHEIL ABEDIAN, SUNLAND GROUP: I feel sorry for the family. I think
their family they don't deserve what has happened to them.
MATT PEACOCK: And the men?
SOHEIL ABEDIAN: And I believe any single individual that is in any
foreign jurisdiction is involved in our kind of business they should
uphold the law of that country.
MATT PEACOCK: In 2006 Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum dreamed of
turning his tiny State Dubai into a tourist Mecca.
(EXTRACT FROM ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN)
VOICEOVER: The Prince Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has a $2
billion plan to save his country. He's ordered his kingdom to transfer
itself into the world's number one luxury tourist destination. And the
Crown Prince has a history of getting what he wants.
(END OF EXTRACT)
KARL FENDER, ARCHITECT: Dubai before the GFC was just amazing. It was
a matter of construction that you've never seen before in your life as
an architect or a builder.
MATT PEACOCK: Among the flood of ex-pats working for the sheik were
two Australians, Matthew Joyce in charge of a subsidiary called Dubai
waterfront and his commercial director Marcus Lee. Also joining the
stampede for a piece of the action in Dubai was Gold Coast developer
Sunland, headed by Soheil Abedian.
SOHEIL ABEDIAN: The market was one of the strongest market that
anybody knows from the time that somebody purchased a block of land
until the settlement usually an average seven times it will change
hand before the property would settle.
MATT PEACOCK: It was hot..
SOHEIL ABEDIAN: It was very hot.
MATT PEACOCK: The deal that landed the two Australians in hot water
behind bars in Dubai involved a key block of waterfront land. Sunland
was planning a joint venture with another Australian Angus Reid and
his company Prudentia to buy the block but just before the purchase
Sunland decided to go it alone and paid Prudentia $14 million to walk
away. Sunland bought the block itself and looked set to make a
handsome profit.
But in 2008 the global financial crisis burst the bubble.
KARL FENDER: Our activity in Dubai stopped overnight with the advent
of the GFC. It was sudden and it was dramatic.
MATT PEACOCK: The Dubai authorities launched a series of
investigations into foreign deals. Sunland's chief officer in Dubai,
David Brown, was arrested as authorities investigated whether the $14
million payment was a bribe. Brown then accused Joyce and Lee of
fraud. He also claimed to the Dubai prosecutor that the $14 million
was paid because Matthew Joyce had convinced him Prudentia had first
rights over the property. Sunland's chairman, Soheil Abedian is
standing by this accusation.
SOHEIL ABEDIAN: If I do anything wrong in Dubai I deserved to be
punished as well. If somebody from Dubai come here and does something
that is illegal the judiciary will ultimately be the judge.
MATT PEACOCK: In fact an Australian court has ruled on the case. After
Sunland sued Joyce and Prudentia in the Victorian Supreme Court for
misleading behaviour the judge found its case was hopeless and
launched the ulterior Motive of releasing Joyce in Dubai. He also
found the story about Joyce and Lee was invented and the evidence
Brown and Abedian was fanciful, inaccurate and not believable. Sunland
is appealing the judgment.
MATT PEACOCK: They're damning comments to be made about you though,
they virtually accuse you of being a liar?
SOHEIL ABEDIAN: They have said that I am a liar but anybody who knows
me, and you can pick up the phone from anybody, they will say that my
whole being is about righteousness.
MATT PEACOCK: While Sunland continues to insist that Matthew Joyce is
guilty, despite the Victorian ruling, it now admits that Marcus Lee
has done nothing wrong.
SOHEIL ABEDIAN: From Sunland's side we did not have any claim against
Mr Marcus Lee. Mr Marcus Lee has nothing to do with that case as long
as we know.
JOHN SNEDDON: Well the problem is that that's not what Sunland said to
the authorities in Dubai in January and February 2009, Sunland's man
in Dubai, David Brown gave two written statements to the Dubai
authority in which he outlined his theory that Marcus was involved in
this bizarre conspiracy to deceive Sunland. It's all well and good for
them to say now they think he's innocent but that's not what they've
said to the authorities in Dubai.
MATT PEACOCK: The Victorian court also described Sunland's stock
exchange statements that it had not been under investigation for
bribery in Dubai as misleading and it's referred them to the
Australian security and investments commission.
After four years detention in the Arab emirate, both Marcus Lee and
Matthew Joyce, having paid huge legal fees and expenses, have nearly
run out of money.
MALCOLM FRASER, FMR PRIME MINISTER: If Sunland had nothing to fear why
won't their people go back to Dubai as they've been subpoenaed to do
to give evidence, evidence which if properly examined and cross
examination will show that Joyce and Lee are innocent.
MATT PEACOCK: The former prime minister Malcolm Fraser has urged the
Australian Government to take stronger action to see the two men
released.
MALCOLM FRASER: If the case is to go on and on another four years
before the courts a very probable conviction, 99 per cent conviction
rate for aliens tried in Dubai which is pretty high, I believe the
Government should have done much more, especially because of the
judgment of the Victorian Supreme Court which has in the most emphatic
terms said that these two Australians are innocent.
JOHN SNEDDON: It's a tragedy, it's a true tragedy for all concerned.
I'm only Marcus's lawyer but there are a lot of other Australians tied
up in this and particularly Matt Joyce and his family. This is a
dreadful situation.
LEIGH SALES: Matt Peacock reporting.
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