A former The Apprentice contestant has come out after it was revealed that she might face jail time in Dubai over a ‘bounced cheque,’ which she claims she never wrote.
Selina Waterman-Smith, who starred on the BBC programme in 2015, was recently reported to be risking incarceration if she did not pay a £27,750 fine.
The entrepreneur claimed that for the previous four years, a former business colleague had been extorting and harassing her, prompting her to file a complaint with Dubai Police.
It was claimed that the guy took advantage of a loophole in the United Arab Emirates, allowing her to be convicted while overseas.
Selina claimed that she was found guilty in her absence when the complainant provided her with incorrect contact information.
It’s been said that Selina is now in the UAE with a two-year travel ban, MailOnline reported.
In a recent interview, the former Apprentice contestant, who was sacked by Lord Alan Sugar following the ninth task on the programme, stressed how’scared’ she feels about the situation and the affect it has had on her mental health.
The business coach stated that the individual in issue posed to be an investor for her company, but Detained in Dubai apparently labelled him a conman.
Selina told The Mirror: ‘This man entered into an agreement with me in bad faith, bullied me into giving him money then cheated me out of my business I had spent years developing. He then launched a near identical business with his own investor, after admitting he had no funds of his own to invest in my brands.’
She said that has ‘complained many times’ but is ‘scared about these extortionate threats to effectively ruin my life if I don’t keep handing over money to him’.
‘Everyone from the authorities has said that I haven’t done anything wrong, and to “ignore him” as he’ll get bored. Sadly that has not been the case. My mental health has suffered and I have not been able to escape him for five years. I feel it is my duty to speak out about this, and potentially protect other women,’ she said.
Selina is said to have closed down her business, and because she ‘was not notified about the case’ and didn’t have ‘any chance’ to defend herself, ‘the complaint has gone ahead, and I have been denied any opportunity to disprove this fictional version of events’.
The former reality star said that she has suffered from bouts of ‘extreme depression’ over the past couple of years amid other health issues, adding: ‘A man so brazen about threats, harassment and committing fraud, is a real danger to me, and potentially other female victims.’
‘Securing a conviction against a rival in the UAE is frequently just as easy as filing an accusation, as we saw in Selina’s case,’ said Radha Stirling, who works with Detained in Dubai.
‘No substantial evidence is required, no proof, and the accused is frequently never even made aware of the case until they discover they have been convicted.’
Source My Celebrity Life.
