'Arab prince' charged with fraud in Qld

17:50 AEST Fri Jul 24 2009
By David Barbeler

A Frenchman notorious in his native country for posing as an Arab prince has been charged with fraud in north Queensland.

Abdelkarim Serhani, 26, has French celebrity status for his imposter antics, reportedly inspired by Eddie Murphy in the 1988 movie Coming to America.

While pretending to be a member of the Saudi royal family, he reportedly wined and dined beautiful women, cruised around in a Ferrari and stayed at top class hotels in France, according to European media reports.

Serhani has been charged with two counts of fraud and one count of drink-driving and will face the Proserpine Magistrates Court on Monday.

He was charged with a $42,000 fraud after allegedly living the high life on Hamilton Island for 16 days and has since holed up in north Queensland hostels, The Cairns Post reports on Friday.
The drink-driving offence allegedly occurred on May 11 in Airlie Beach, while one fraud also allegedly occurred in May.

Serhani has been making himself known in north Queensland.

Cairns Crown Hotel manager Brett Jeffery said the "charming" and well-dressed Serhani paid his bottle shop a visit three weeks ago and allegedly walked out with $600 worth of champagne which he says has yet to be paid for.

"He was charming, put on a bit of an act as if he was very wealthy and a well-known person living the high life," Mr Jeffery said.

"He wanted to order a large amount of champagne and gave us the impression that he was travelling on a yacht around the world, was quite wealthy and was staying at the Hilton.

"He brought up two bottles of Dom Pérignon from the fridges and put them on the counter, waited until the shop manager was distracted, then walked out the door," Mr Jeffery alleges.
He later found out Serhani was actually staying at the Cairns Woodduck Backpackers from which he was shortly kicked out, Mr Jeffrey said.

Serhani is also understood to have claimed he studied in Sydney.

European media have detailed his exploits.

In January this year, Belgian daily newspaper La Dernière Heure described some of the benefits gained from Serhani's "Saudi prince" routine.

It said one prestigious hotel served him six days worth of champagne, pretty girls, a limousine service, a driver, a bodyguard and a Ferrari.

Serhani was abandoned by his parents at the foot of a church when he was six years old, the newspaper said.

France's northern regional daily newspaper La Voix du Nord said his adopted father Michel Delbherge, a prison chaplain, acknowledged his adopted son had a talent as an imposter.

"I am proud that (he) is acknowledged for (his) talent but I am afraid that he goes much too far," Mr Delbherge told the newspaper.

Serhani is on bail in Queensland.



Baby in car 'theft': lover blamed
A man accused of stealing a car with a five-month-old baby in the back, sparking a frantic police search, claims his lover is to blame.

Mark Quinton, 54, pleaded not guilty in Sutherland Local Court to several theft charges on Friday.

Police allege he stole a Holden Commodore sedan with a baby boy in the back seat from Gannons Road at Caringbah, in Sydney's south, just after 5pm (AEST) yesterday.

The boy's mother was in a chemist at the time.

The theft sparked a police search of the area involving local officers, PolAir and the dog squad.
The car was found abandoned less than an hour later and the baby was reunited with his parents unharmed.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Rob Casey said Quinton was on parole at the time of the alleged offence and was aggressive towards police.

He was arrested at a caravan park on Gannons Road.

"He's a risk to the community," Sgt Casey said.

"He has a history of drugs ... and was drug affected when he was arrested."

The court heard the stolen car's keys were found in Quinton's possession.

Defence lawyer Audie Willert said his client did not steal the car but was in a sexual relationship with a 23-year-old woman known only as Rebecca, who turned up at the caravan park with the stolen vehicle.

The court heard Rebecca was planning to drive the baby to the police station but the car would not start.

Mr Willert told the court Quinton wanted bail so he could start drug and alcohol rehabilitation.
However, Magistrate Bev Schurr refused bail and adjourned the matter to September 3.

AAP