CAIRO: Broker Mahmoud El Boushi of Optima Securities Brokerage, who allegedly pilfered around $68,422 million and ?200,000 from his clients, was arrested earlier this week in Dubai, but was granted bail after he reached a settlement with an Egyptian businessman in an AED 5 million dud check case. However the same businessman filed another complaint involving AED 21.9 million, according to Khaleej Times, a UAE-based newspaper. Over 48 Egyptians, including high-profile public figures, had also filed complaints to Egypt's Commercial and Financial Affairs Prosecution office against Mahmoud El Boushi, accusing him of fraud. Last Tuesday, the Interpol requested from the Emirati government to hand over El Boushi to the Egyptian authorities, the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Dubai Police, Major-General Khamis Matter Al Mazeina, said. "We are going to refer the extradition request to the UAE's judicial authorities and Dubai Public Prosecution, which will decide on whether he should be handed over to Egypt, that is, if he is not wanted in other cases in the UAE, Al Mazeina told Khaleej Times. On Egyptian Dream TV's Al-Ashera Masa'an, El Boushi's lawyer, Maher Milad Eskandar, spoke in his defense, dismissing any fraud activities and claiming that El Boushy had invested that money on behalf of these people in the stock market, but that it was all lost when it crashed. Eskandar told the local press that El Boushi will be coming back to Egypt voluntarily in the coming few days when Dubai police release him following his interrogation. He added that Optima Securities Brokerage is not required to compensate its clients for the money they've lost as per their contracts, therefore the whole matter doesn't involve the Egyptian authorities. On the other hand, the plaintiffs' lawyer, Samir Sabry insisted that El Boushi is guilty of all the fraud crimes brought against him. Sabry claimed that he lured in all his "victims by claiming that he was appointed as a supervisor at the World Bank and as a consultant for Egypt's economic and investment plan for the next 20 years. In addition, he promised them profits of 115 to 500 percent. A list of El Boushi's victims was published in Rose Al-Youssef newspaper; it includes public figures such as actress Laila Elwi, Mervat Amin, Hussein Fahmi and former football star, Mahmoud Al-Khatib, currently vice-president of Al Ahly Club.
