Fugitive U.S. businessman deported to UAE from Yemen

SANAA (Reuters) - Yemen has deported an American businessman back to the United Arab Emirates from where he fled last month after being freed on bail while facing embezzlement charges, his spokesman and a Yemeni security official said on Sunday.

Zack Shahin, former chief executive of Deyaar one of Dubai's biggest property developers, was detained in 2008 over embezzlement charges which he denied.

Shahin went on a hunger strike in jail in May this year and was then released on $1.4 million bail in July after Washington expressed concern about his health. But he then jumped bail and fled to Yemen, where he was arrested last month.

"Zack Shahin has been deported to the UAE at the request of the UAE government," said the Yemeni security official in Sanaa, who asked not to be named under briefing rules.

The U.S. embassy in Abu Dhabi declined to comment, citing privacy considerations, and UAE government officials were not available for comment.

A spokesman for Shahin's U.S. legal counsel said Yemen had originally agreed to deport Shahin to the United States, an emergency passport was obtained from there and travel arrangements were finalized for a flight on August 18 to Istanbul.

"With less than 90 minutes until his flight departed from Sanaa, Zack was notified (by Yemeni authorities) ... he would continue to be detained," spokesman Darren Spinck said in an emailed statement.

"The U.S. Embassy and U.S. consular officials in Yemen had failed the most basic role of the overseas diplomatic corps - protect the life and interests of U.S. citizens abroad."

Shahin was deported to the UAE on September 1 and is now believed to be held at the public prosecutor's office, though there is no official confirmation of his location, Spinck added.

Shahin's flight to Yemen and deportation may embarrass U.S. authorities, who have pressured the UAE to resolve his case. There have been hearings on his case in Dubai, but no judgment.

(Reporting by Mohamad Ghobari, Mirna Seliman and; Raissa Kasolowsky; Writing by Mirna Sleiman; Editing by Jon Hemming)

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Fugitive US businessman returned to Dubai

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A fugitive American businessman fighting fiscal corruption charges in Dubai has been returned to the United Arab Emirates after fleeing to Yemen, a spokesman said Saturday.

The return of Zack Shahin to UAE custody ends his bid to get American diplomatic assistance to return to the U.S. via Yemen and presumably escape a legal battle in Dubai dating back to 2008.

He denies any wrongdoing and, after four years without a trial, questions whether he will receive fair treatment.

The U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi had no immediate comment.

Shahin, who was born in Lebanon and raised in Ohio, was detained by Yemeni authorities last month after slipping into the country. He was released from a Dubai jail in July after posting a $1.4 million bail following a hunger strike that brought the U.S. government into a rare public dispute with its close UAE ally over Shahin's demand for a trial.

Washington-based spokesman Darren Spinck said Yemeni authorities put Shahin on a plane Saturday to be returned to the UAE "without a court hearing on extradition."

No other details were immediately available on Shahin's whereabouts, but his flight could become a fresh point of tension between the U.S. and the UAE.

Shahin faces charges of financial improprieties during his time as CEO of a Dubai-based property company, Deyaar Development. Deyaar was one of a host of Dubai-based developers that shot to prominence during the emirate's building boom last decade. He was arrested in 2008 as part of a probe into alleged embezzlement by executives at the company.

American officials in the UAE took an unusually public role in advocating for Shahin's right to a trial as his health deteriorated from the hunger strike and other ailments such as high blood pressure.

Spinck said the 52-year-old Shahin had at least three medical "emergencies" while in Yemeni custody, but no details were immediately available.

The seven-state UAE federation, which includes the emirates of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, is OPEC's third-largest oil producer. It maintains strong economic ties with the U.S. and hosts important American air bases and other strategic sites.

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