UAE loses extradition bid for one alleged fraudster, but second man consents to be sent from UK

ONE of two men wanted in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has avoided extradition, while the other has consented to being sent there.

Essex News and Investigations revealed earlier this year how both men were arrested on international arrest warrants and appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court.

Samih Abdulrahman Sadiq Basaddiq, 49, from Earls Court Road, west London, was fighting extradition, but at a hearing on November 4, the request was discharged after a judge said a prima facie case against him had not been made by the UAE and he was free to leave the court.

The arrest warrant had stated that: "On or before March 6 2019, within the within the jurisdiction of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, he occupied a position in which he was expected to safeguard, or not to act against, the financial interests of Advanced Facilities Management limited, but abused his position by dishonest appropriation of funds in the sum of 8,000,000 AED intending to make a gain for himself or another, or to cause loss to another contrary to Section 4 of the Fraud Act 2006." A surety of £80,000 paid to the court will be returned to him and bail conditions cancelled.

In a second separate case Salman Afzal Asghar, 40, (top picture and above in a supercar from Facebook) a Pakistani national from Circus Road, West Battersea, west London, is also alleged to have committed fraud in the UAE.

He was arrested by the Met Police on an international arrest warrant in London earlier this year. The UAE alleges that "on or about July 2018 in the territory of the United Arab Emirates, he committed fraud, by dishonestly making false representations to Simon Sellers, an investor, that he owned a fabric factory in Pakistan, which was untrue and made a gain for himself of $250,000 USA Dollars, contrary to section two of the Fraud Act 2006."

Asghar denies the allegations and was opposing extradition.

However, at a hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court on September 28, he consented to be extradited to the UAE.

He has yet to be extradited and remains under bail conditions.

He is under an electronically monitored curfew between 2am and 10am daily and must live and sleep at his home address. His passport has been retained by police and he must not go to any international travel hub or apply for international travel documents or be in possession of any. An £18,000 security has also been lodged with the court.

Asghar has not responded to a request for comment, while Basaddiq was unavailable.

2024 UPDATE

An associate of Samih Basaddiq made contact with Essex News and Investigations in Februray 2024.

He explained that Mr Basaddiq was not initially arrested and fully cooperated with all authorities involved during the extradition process.

He said: "But he was arrested as a formality before the (extradition) hearing for the procedural continuity as you would understand, this was allowed because the investigating authorities appreciated Samih's full co-operation in the matter.

"Since the discharge of the extradition request there has also been no case to answer that is now known of in Dubai."

The associate explained that extradition requests for completely innocent people were commonplace because "if you are a national in the UAE then you can practically file any charge you like especially against a non resident with very little evidence and then it is for the defendant to answer."

He cited the case of British grandfather Ian Mackellar who faced ludicrous trespass claims after complaining about a noisy party.

The associate added: "This situation with Samih arose from a disgruntled ex employer being angry at an ex-employee who was doing well away from his former company.

"The initial alleged claim for fraud was not placed until two years after Samih had left the original company - nearly five years from it's inception."

The UAE authorities have been contacted for comment.