Security sources revealed new facts in the defraud case in which Nabil el-Boushi and his partner Fikri Badr, the owners of Optima Stock Exchange Company, are accused. The Dubai Attorney-General summoned Boushi from prison and asked him if he wanted to be handed over to the Egyptian authorities, to which Boushi said: “I will accept investigation because all those who want back their dollars have already taken them tenfold.” The sources said that Boushi was released after he paid back two plaintiffs, but was arrested again pending investigation when Egyptian businessman Wagdi Karara accused him of taking US$ 11 million from him.
Al-Masry Al-Youm talked to Boushi through his lawyer Yasser Ahmed who was with him at the Dubai prosecution. Boushi said: “All the figures that were reported by the Egyptian newspapers are terribly exaggerated. All the victims took back their money tenfold. Anyone depositing two million dollars took back four million just in one year. And now they accuse me of swindling them and taking their money. The victims are exaggerating the figures in order to get more when it comes to negotiating. This is usual in such cases.” He added: “Public opinion in Egypt does not know that the victims' lawyer is trying to prove that the swindling happened by an Egyptian company, which is not true, because the company where they have deposited their money is a British company. He is only trying to oblige the Egyptian government to compensate them.” Boushi's lawyer Maher Iskandar said any victims with documents that prove their rights must submit them to the Egyptian Attorney-General. He said his client in Dubai agreed to be deported to Egypt and face public opinion because he is innocent. Al-Masry Al-Youm has learnt that many of the victims went to England in the last few days to file lawsuits there. Ahmed el-Kilani, one of the victims, said he gave Boushi 615,000 dollars and not two million as was reported in the newspapers.
The Finance and Trade Prosecution is hearing the testimonies of the victims, and is awaiting the report of its committee that assesses the property of the defendants and their bank accounts. A judicial source said that in the event Boushi is not extradited by the UAE, the prosecution can refer the lawsuits against him to the Court of Misdemeanors to try him in absentia.
