‘My mental health has suffered,’ The Apprentice star said (Picture: BBC/Boundless/Jim Marks)
A former star of The Apprentice has spoken out after it was reported that she could be jailed in Dubai over a ‘bounced cheque’, which she claims that she never wrote.
It was recently reported that Selina Waterman-Smith, who appeared on the BBC series in 2015, was facing the prospect of being put behind bars if she didn’t pay a sum of £27,750.
The entrepreneur claimed that a former business associate had been extorting and harassing her for the past four years, resulting in her filing a complaint with the Dubai Police.
It was alleged that the man had taken advantage of a loophole in the United Arab Emirates which meant that she could be convicted while abroad.
Selina said that she was found guilty in her absence after the complainant supplied the wrong contact information for her.
It’s been said that Selina is now in the UAE with a two-year travel ban, MailOnline reported.
Selina won two challenges as project manager on The Apprentice, the first time being in the first week of the series (Picture: SWNS)
Speaking in a new interview, the former Apprentice competitor, who was fired by Lord Alan Sugar after the ninth task on the show, emphasised how ‘scared’ she is by the situation and the impact it has had on her mental health.
The business mentor claimed that the man in question pretended to be an investor for her business – but the organisation Detained in Dubai has reportedly dubbed him a conman.
Selina told The Mirror: ‘This man entered into an agreement with me in bad faith, bullied me into giving him money then cheated me out of my business I had spent years developing. He then launched a near identical business with his own investor, after admitting he had no funds of his own to invest in my brands.’
She said that has ‘complained many times’ but is ‘scared about these extortionate threats to effectively ruin my life if I don’t keep handing over money to him’.
The entrepreneur states on Instagram that she ‘helps business owners identify and resolve blocks so they operate and scale flawlessly’ (Picture: BBC)
‘Everyone from the authorities has said that I haven’t done anything wrong, and to “ignore him” as he’ll get bored. Sadly that has not been the case. My mental health has suffered and I have not been able to escape him for five years. I feel it is my duty to speak out about this, and potentially protect other women,’ she said.
Selina is said to have closed down her business, and because she ‘was not notified about the case’ and didn’t have ‘any chance’ to defend herself, ‘the complaint has gone ahead, and I have been denied any opportunity to disprove this fictional version of events’.
The former reality star said that she has suffered from bouts of ‘extreme depression’ over the past couple of years amid other health issues, adding: ‘A man so brazen about threats, harassment and committing fraud, is a real danger to me, and potentially other female victims.’
Radha Stirling, who works with Detained in Dubai, said of Selina’s case: ‘Securing a conviction against a rival in the UAE is often simply as easy as making an accusation, as we see in Selina’s case.
‘No substantial evidence is required, no proof, and the accused is frequently never even made aware of the case until they discover they have been convicted.’
Metro.co.uk has contacted Selina Waterman-Smith for further comment.
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‘My mental health has suffered,’ The Apprentice star said.
