DUBAI // A woman has been charged with threatening to ruin her former employer’s life unless he paid her Dh3 million.
Prosecutors told Dubai Criminal Court on Tuesday that N P, 31, threatened to wreck the lives of Iranian company manager F M, 48, and his family. The threats allegedly date back to September, when she was fired as his personal assistant.
The woman, from Germany, also allegedly called the man’s wife and accused him of sexual assault.
The employer told prosecutors that the woman claimed to have qualifications and BA degrees. “I asked for her degrees but she kept stalling. Then she started making problems with other employees, and I saw her several times going through my personal laptop,” he said.
After warning her several times, he suspended her from work and then fired her.
On September 3, he said he received a phone call from her asking him to pay her compensation of €500,000 (Dh1.95m) because she said he had fired her without a valid reason.
“She threatened me that if I didn’t pay her, she would give away work secrets to my competitors,” said the Iranian. He said she kept calling him and then started demanding that he pay her Dh3m or she would ruin his family’s lives.
“She told me that she promised her family to return to Germany rich, but because I fired her, she would go back empty handed. Therefore she wanted me to pay her that amount.”
F M said the woman then called his wife and children and attempted to smear his reputation by saying he tried to sexually assault her. He said he tried to ignore her but when she started calling his friends and employees, he reported her to police. F M claimed she had also taken his laptop and two company iPhones.
“I heard her threatening him when he put the phone on loudspeaker during one of her calls,” said M K, an Indian sales manager at the company. M K said he had known the Iranian for 12 years, during which time he had never done anything to harm any employee.
In court, for an unknown reason the judge did not ask the woman for a plea. A verdict is expected on March 31.
salamir@thenational.ae