UAE officer cleared of charges in US domestic help case

A United Arab Emirates naval officer was acquitted Friday of keeping an unpaid domestic helper after a judge concluded that the woman's testimony "doesn't have the ring of truth". Col. Arif Mohammed Saeed Mohammed Al Ali embraced his defence attorney and wept after Chief Judge Mary M. Lisi found him not guilty in US District Court in Providence of fraud in foreign labour contracting. Earlier this week, Lisi acquitted him of lying to a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. Elizabeth Cabitla Ballesteros, who is from the Philippines, testified twice at trial. She claimed Ali didn't pay her for long hours of cleaning, cooking and baby-sitting and forced her to sign a document that acknowledged her pay. "The complaining witness' testimony simply doesn't have the ring of truth," Lisi said. Ballesteros, who also filed a civil lawsuit, left the courtroom without commenting. Her civil attorney, Ivy O. Suriyopas, called the verdict a "gross miscarriage of justice". Lisi also was presiding over the civil suit, but she recused herself on Friday. The civil case was reassigned to Judge John J. McConnell Jr. Defence attorney Robert C. Corrente said Ballesteros made up her story in search of a payday. "This woman is a pathological liar who concocted this story to extort him," Corrente said. "Her story on its face was ridiculous. I think it's a disgrace that somebody of his distinction was treated like this." Ballesteros accompanied Ali's family last year to Rhode Island, where he was studying for a year at the US Naval War College in Newport. He has since completed the programme, and his wife and five children returned to the UAE in April after Ali said they were shunned as a result of the criminal charges. Lisi said she had doubts about Ballesteros's story even before Ali took the stand in his own defence. She questioned why a naval officer with 30 years of service would jeopardise his opportunity to be among a select few to study in the US by scamming a woman who had worked for him for three years and cared for his youngest son since infancy.