Dubai acquits executive of bribery charges

A Dubai court on Wednesday found the former chief executive of a state-linked developer innocent of bribery charges in an embarrassing turn of events for the government’s high-profile anti-corruption campaign.

Abdulsalam Al Marri, former chief executive of the Lagoons development, was found innocent of charges including bribery, said Habib al-Mulla, whose law firm defended the UAE national. Three junior colleagues were found guilty of accepting bribes and jailed for a year each.

The verdict is a setback to the city-state’s anti-corruption campaign launched last year to root out corruption and financial mismanagement at state-linked real estate companies and banks. The unexpected verdict, however, also appears to undermine criticism of a lack of independence within the judiciary.