Dubai fraud case: Alexander Downer offered $60,000 to intervene on behalf of jailed Australian

Updated

Newly appointed High Commissioner to the UK Alexander Downer has acknowledged it was questionable to entertain a paid agreement to help free an Australian businessman jailed in Dubai on suspicion of fraud in 2009.

Property executive Matt Joyce was jailed for seven months, along with fellow Australian Marcus Lee, before both men were charged in connection with an alleged fraud involving a $14 million property deal in Dubai.

Former foreign minister Mr Downer undertook to make representations to the Crown Prince in the United Arab Emirates to have Mr Joyce freed on bail.

A success fee was discussed, and has been estimated by one person close to the case to be $60,000.

Mr Downer has told the ABC's Foreign Correspondent program he ultimately declined any fee, concluding it probably was not something a former foreign minister should be a part of.

"I didn't charge them in the end, and in any case ... I'm not sure how appropriate it is to collect money doing that sort of thing," he said.

"Ever since I've finished up as the foreign minister, I've never been paid for any intervention on a consular issue in that way."

Marcus Lee's wife told Foreign Correspondent her family could not afford to offer to pay for Mr Downer's help.

"He was going to raise the case for the people who were going to pay the $60,000, and we couldn't afford to pay, so we were not involved in that," she said.

Asked what her reaction was when she heard a former foreign minister was "asking for money" to help an Australian citizen, she said: "I wasn't that impressed".

Mr Downer confirmed his letter to the Crown Prince made no mention of Mr Lee.

"I just simply wasn't approached about him so I simply don't know about his case," he said.

Topics: fraud-and-corporate-crime, law-crime-and-justice, foreign-affairs, australia, united-arab-emirates, sa

First posted