Jenny Rogers
The Daily Telegraph
January 20,2014
- Marcus Lee and wife Julie landed at Sydney Airport this morning
- Five-year ordeal finally over following 'traumatic' few days
- Family and friends waited in Arrivals with flags to greet pair
- Couple left financially ruined following ordeal
WITH shouts of delight and a flurry of Australian flags businessman Marcus Lee and his wife Julie were embraced by family and friends at Sydney International Airport this morning after a five year battle that had kept them stuck in the United Arab Emirates.
"It has been what we have dreamed about for five years now," a tired and pale Mr Lee told the waiting media as he stood beside his teary wife, Julie.
"Even down to the last couple of days it has been pretty traumatic."
Mr and Ms Lee arrived with just the clothes on their backs and their luggage from Dubai following a torturous legal battle that has left them financially ruined and traumatised.
Mr Lee was acquitted of fraud three times in the lengthy case brought by Gold Coast developer the Sunland Group over a botched Dubai land deal.
Mr Lee said he was "caught up in a grubby dispute between a lot of self interested property developers."
He said he owed everything to his lawyer John Sneddon who worked for free for five years.
"He always believed in me and told us we were going to get to this point.
"I have no idea how I will ever repay him."
Mr Lee embraced Mr Sneddon at the arrivals gate.
Mr Sneddon said getting an innocent Australian home was more important than money.
Mr Lee said he will now begin legal proceedings to try to get compensation for the ordeal.
The couple have lost everything, using the $300 000 bond money to repay debts.
Mr Lee's mother Carol McKinley hugged her son joking she was going to rip up his passport.
Mr Lee said he would not warn other Australians not to travel or live in the United Arab Emirates.
"But there are issues and that does happen, it might be one in a hundred but there is that one."
Mr And Ms Lee had been set to leave Dubai on Friday but were prevented by state security officials.
Although Mr Lee believed he had obtained all the required clearance certificates to leave Dubai, the country's state security still had a flag against his name.
Australian ambassador Pablo Kang negotiated with the Dubai foreign ministry to get the couple cleared so they could leave on a later flight.
Mr Sneddon said the bureaucratic bungle could have flared into a diplomatic row if the state's security had not backed down.
