DubaiWell, a bitter sweet result for 2 Australian men detained in Dubai for 4 yearsSweet because one of the men, 44 year old Marcus Lee, was yesterday finally acquitted of all charges against himBitter, because his former associate, 48 year old Matthew Joyce, was sentenced to 10 years gaol and fined $25 millionJoyce and Lee were arrested in 2009 and charged with inducing Gold Coast developer Sunland to pay a $14 million illegal commission to secure a Dubai propertyFollowing their arrest they spent 9 months in solitary confinement and more than 3 years under house arrestLast year a parallel case in the Victorian Supreme Court, involving the same facts, found Sunland’s Middle East boss gave false evidence against the men to the Dubai prosecutor In other words, it suggested, the case against them was rubbish Sunland has since called for a retrial of that case arguing that $7 million of the $14 million commission ended up in Joyce’s family trust But in the meantime the Dubai Court apparently gave no consideration to the Victorian Supreme Court decisionJulia Gillard personally telephoned a Central Coast boy accused of drug offences in Bali last yearBut, despite years of pleading from the families of Joyce and Lee, she only telephoned her Dubai counterpart in February (unsuccessfully as it turns out) to ask that the findings of the Victorian Supreme Court be notedAustralians expect better from their leaders

The Alan Jones Breakfast show: Highlights