I was an employee of a British firm working in Dubai, paid on a UK tax roll, so paying NICs and student loan contributions, but a resident of the UAE. Due to Dubai property markets, I had to get a loan of around £15k to pay upfront for half of one year's rent, as per the norm, with a friend I lived with paying the other half. A regular amount was to be deducted from my pay over the next 12 months.

A contract was put together and emailed over to me in Dubai from London, at which point I printed it, signed it, scanned it to pdf and faxed it back. I hold the copy with the original signature.

I was made redundant 3 months into repaying this loan, and my company are requesting that I pay it back. As yet, I haven't been able to secure another job, nor have I been able to recoup any of my rent back. I was able to come out of my rental agreement 6 months early, however my friend has turned out to be of dubious morals, and hasn't paid anything to me, meaning my loan has paid for everything to date. I had to leave Dubai due to their redundancy laws, and funds are tight. My old company are not requesting the whole amount back immediately, rather a certain amount per month, but right now nothing is easy. They are however hinting that they may take this to the courts should I be unwilling to play ball.

My questions are:

1) Does this fall under UK law or Dubai law? The loan was done through the UK office, and the firm has no financial centre in Dubai.

2) If under UK law, can they legally use a scanned pdf as proof of signature?

3) If under UK law, can UK courts legally request copies of my Dubai bank accounts? I have been able to save some money by making transfers to an offshore account, but I'm not sure how far that will go.

Many thanks for your help.