A group of individuals being sought for extradition by the government of the United Kingdom

Summary

Our extradition experts, led by our Managing Partner Ali Al Zarooni, were chosen to defend of a group of individuals, three brothers, accused of various financial-related crimes against an extradition request lodged by the Government of the United Kingdom.

Details

Horizons & Co. team represented the defendants on this prominent extradition matter. The individuals were accused of tax evasion, money laundering and embezzling public funds in the United Kingdom, totalling AED 500 million. This related to one of the largest tax fraud cases in recent years in the United Kingdom and was extremely high-profile.

A request was lodged with the Dubai Public Prosecution to extradite our clients back to the United Kingdom. At the Dubai Appeal Court, the request for extradition was rejected due to a time-bar, due to the length of time that had passed since the alleged crimes were committed; more than five years before the case was brought. However, this decision was appealed by the prosecutors before the Dubai Cassation Court, who overturned the original decision.

Therefore, despite the lapse of time, the matter was referred back to the Dubai Appeal Court, who put together a new panel of judges to hear the case and rule on it. They ruled that our clients could be extradited back to the UK for the alleged crimes.

We immediately appealed this decision arguing that the time lapse of more than five years can be strongly demonstrated, and thus the extradition request must be rejected on those grounds. We were successful and the case against out clients, that is the request to extradite, was dismissed.

How we added value

The perseverance and knowledge of UAE law and court processes of our Managing Partner and his team was paramount to successfully getting the request for extradition dismissed.

Furthermore, this case was especially interesting as it deals with issues surrounding the judicial co-operation treaty between UK and the UAE. The case is considered as a leading and innovative case, dealing with the relationship between the UK and the UAE, and may be used as a precedent for future cases involving extradition and lapse of time.