Freedom beckons for Australians stuck in Dubai Happy days: Matt Joyce and Angela Higgins with two of their three children, Jack and Clancy. After four years trapped with her children in Dubai while her husband has battled bribery charges, Angela Higgins has had the first ray of hope in a long time from the emirate's authorities. They have returned her Australian passport. She is hailing it as "the first real breakthrough" since Prime Minister Julia Gillard called Dubai's ruler last month to plead for Ms Higgins' husband, Matt Joyce, and Marcus Lee, Australian executives who had worked together on what had been the world's biggest property development, Dubai Waterfront. But Ms Higgins said: "I'm not going back to Australia immediately. I want to stay here and support Matt so that we can all come home together. Mr Joyce and Mr Lee remain under house arrest, eight months after an Australian judge - in a parallel case - discredited the claims that led to their arrest in January 2009 and denounced the "fabrications" and "ulterior motive" of Mr Joyce's accuser, the Gold Coast-based developer Sunland. The men spent nine months in jail before their release on bail, a condition of which was that Ms Higgins and Mr Lee's wife Julie hand in their passports. Mrs Lee has now applied for the return of her passport. Amid a flurry of diplomatic pressure in recent months, Prince Charles has also spoken to Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum. "I'm extremely appreciative of the efforts of Australian consular staff in securing the release of my passport," Ms Higgins said. I'm hopeful it's a sign that some progress is being made in bringing the false evidence against Matt to the attention of the Dubai authorities. Sunland alleged it was duped into paying about $14 million to another Australian company, Prudentia, to secure a development plot on Dubai Waterfront known as D17. It accused Mr Joyce, as Dubai Waterfront's general manager, and Prudentia's Angus Reed, both Geelong Grammar old boys, of falsely claiming that Prudentia had rights over D17. But Justice Clyde Croft - in dismissing Sunland's case against Mr Joyce and Mr Reed in the Victorian Supreme Court - found they made no such claim. Rather, Sunland had been "desperate" to secure the plot in a "hot" property market in Dubai. Instead of pursuing a potential joint venture with Prudentia, Sunland had gladly paid it the money to "walk away." It could then buy the land from Dubai Waterfront, a subsidiary of the state-owned master developer, Nakheel. The property market soon collapsed catastrophically. D17 was never developed and remains sand. Justice Croft found Sunland's Middle East boss, David Brown, made the false allegations after realising he, too, was under investigation for bribery - for paying the $14 million. Sunland had persisted with its false claims "in wilful disregard of known facts and law and also for an ulterior motive." Sunland is appealing against Justice Croft's ruling, insisting it was the victim. It has told the Australian Securities Exchange that it understands the Dubai prosecution includes the claim that about $7 million went to a bank account linked to Mr Joyce and about $7 million went to a company linked to Mr Reed - imputations explicitly rejected by a source close to the Joyce and Reed camps. The court in Dubai has ordered a review of the prosecution case. It resumes on Thursday. Sunland has stated it has no claim against Mr Lee, who had been Dubai Waterfront's head of commercial operations. His father and stepfather, and the grandmother who raised him until he was seven years old, have died while he has been trapped in Dubai. Unable to work, he has sold his Australian property and spent almost all the proceeds.