Court rules billionaire knew his wife was using credit card

DUBAI // An Emirati billionaire's second wife, convicted of embezzling almost Dh600,000 from him, has had her three-month jail sentence quashed on appeal. The businessman, AN, 45, filed a complaint at the Rashidiya police station on September 11 claiming that he had been embezzled of Dh584,224 (US$159,000) from his National Bank of Dubai credit card, which he rarely used. Police then showed him an image from a bank's ATM showing a man he identified as his second wife's brother, an Iraqi national, AS, 23.

The businessman said his card was stolen while he was out of the country in May 2009. The wife's brother told prosecutors he was told to use the card by his sister, the plaintiff's wife, identified as WS, 25. The Dubai Misdemeanours Court convicted AS and WS with theft in December. However, the Dubai Court of Appeals overturned the decision after it found that the plaintiff did, in fact, know of his wife's transactions.

She testified he gave her the card to make up for his lack of attention since he spent most of his time with his other wife. amustafa@thenational.ae