Words: Ashley Rigg
Published: 28th February 2011
*Overseas property agent victim of “criminal conspiracy”
An overseas property agent currently serving a seven year jail term in Dubai is the victim of a criminal conspiracy and a miscarriage of justice, according to a former metropolitan police chief.
Before his imprisonment for bouncing cheques last year, London-born Safi Qurashi was one of the industry’s most successful agents. In 2007 his company, Premier Real Estate Bureau, turned over more than £400 million and employed 80 staff.
An investigation headed by Tarique Ghaffur, the former assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, concludes that Qurashi and his two colleagues who have also been imprisoned are the victims of a "miscarriage of justice".
The 115-page report claims "they have stood little chance of proving their innocence particularly as the investigations and trials appeared so one-sided and biased … They have been the victim of circumstances brought on by the property recession, the actions of criminals and gross negligence by court officials".
Complacent and Naive
However the report lays some blame of Mr Qurashi and his collegues, concluding that they allowed ambition to colour their judgement.
"Mr Qurashi and his colleagues were at times complacent, naive and even reckless in their business dealings," the report said.
Taken out of context
Following his conviction in May 2010, Qurashi has had an appeal overturned and a
petition to the Queen fall on deaf ears.
Qurashi admits to writing two cheques which bounced in 2009 but claims his trail took no account of the circumstances and evidence surrounding the case.
His legal team claim the bounced cheques were part of a security deposit but should never have been cashed because Qurashi did not owe the money, as the property deal concerned had already completed.
Qurashi, 41, rose to fame when he purchased a 4.5-hectare island that is part of The World, a man-made archipelago of 300 reclaimed sandbanks in Dubai, fashioned into the shape of the globe's land masses.
Source: Global edge