Al Barakah chief arrested on bouncing cheque charges

The chief executive of the property developer Al Barakah is in custody, and is likely to face charges relating to the signing cheques worth millions of dirhams, which later allegedly bounced. SIK, whose company was planning what would have been the tallest tower in Ajman, surrendered himself to the Dubai police last Thursday and was officially arrested on Sunday, according to the public prosecutor's office of the Muraqqabat police station. "He has been captured on Sunday this week," said a first sergeant at the public prosecutor's office. "He said that his name has been blocked and that he can't leave. He told that his business had [gone] worse and that he wanted to solve everything by the court. And because of that he surrendered himself." According to the officer, the charges related to a bounced cheque. "He had one bounced cheque of nearly Dh10m and the case has been sent yesterday to the court," he said. The chief executive was being sought by Dubai Police for more than seven months for allegedly bouncing cheques that totaled more than Dh40 million (US$16.33m), according to the Dubai police. Al Barakah, which launched a dozen projects in Dubai and Ajman from 2007, found itself in difficulty last year. SIK signed agreements with investors promising to buy back their properties after six months with a guaranteed 50 per cent profit on the downpayment. He issued post-dated checks as a guarantee of the buy-back. Ngillet@thenational.ae