- Selina Waterman-Smith was forced to pay thousands to leave the UAE
- She says she was told that men didn’t need evidence for cases against women
- She was smuggled out in the back of a car to neighbouring Oman
A former Apprentice star has revealed that she dodged ‘bogus’ charges in the UAE for debts she said were unfairly incurred by spending £17,000 being smuggled out of the country.
Selina Waterman-Smith, who appeared on the hit show in 2015, said she was forced to go to the extraordinary lengths to avoid a potential life sentence as her passport had been seized.
She faced the life sentence after being convicted of bouncing a cheque following a row with her force business partner.
Waterman-Smith was ordered to pay a debt of £27,750, but she said the Dubai court that heard her case never contacted her, and so she failed to appear at the initial hearing – as a result she was instantly declared guilty.
She told the Sun: ‘I appealed the ludicrous outcome but was told because I was a woman I couldn’t run a business anyway. I was also advised a man doesn’t need any evidence to prosecute a case against a woman in Dubai.
Selina Waterman-Smith (pictured), who appeared on the hit show in 2015, said she was forced to go to the extraordinary lengths to avoid a potential life sentence
She was smuggled out of the UAE (File image)
Waterman-Smith appeared on the 2015 series of the Apprentice
‘There was not a shred of evidence against me. I had nothing to lose, so I paid £10,000 to be smuggled out of the country. I was in limbo with my passport blocked.’
But the initial smuggler failed to take her, so she had to pay another £7,000 to a different smuggler.
Forced into the boot of a car, she says that border guards never checked the vehicle as it rolled into neighbouring Oman: ‘The border officials were too lazy to check the vehicle and I was taken into Oman. It was like something out of a movie.’
Following her trip, she flew to the UK, and then to Thailand, where she says she has been living a pauper’s life since the end of 2023.
‘I’m in bits. My life has been ruined. No one is interested in my plight in the UK. And I can never return to the UAE.
‘I need to start again and try to put this all behind me. The ordeal has played havoc with my mental health. I have lost everything.’
She said her legal and money woes began after a stranger posing as an investor in her business offered her £200,000.