Dh14.4bn bank scam 'targeted economy'



ABU DHABI // Three Iranians who attempted to withdraw Dh14.4 billion (US$3.9bn) from the Central Bank were seeking to undermine the national economy, prosecutors have claimed. IK, an Iranian, and NB, a naturalised American of Iranian descent, appeared in the Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance yesterday charged with fraud and forging documents after they attempted to withdraw the astronomical sum from the Central Bank on Bainunnah Street in April.

Another defendant, identified as Agha Farzeen Sonali, was charged in his absence. His whereabouts are unknown. Prosecutors said the case was one of six similar incidents. The similarities in evidence were an indication that all suspects were part of one group or subject to the same scam. The first incident, prosecutors said, occurred in 2007. "We all know that anything can affect a country's economy," prosecutors told the court yesterday.

"The purpose of these people was to succeed in their fraud attempt and therefore affect the economy when people know the bank was subject to fraud. So we ask for the toughest punishment against them." The prosecution said each of the cases involved a defendant claiming he had gone to the bank to inquire about the validity of documents granting him access to funds stored at the bank, and to inquire as to whether the funds existed.

The cases also each involved a defendant acting as a Persian to Arabic translator. In each instance, Mr Sonali contacted people through a mutual friend and told them he had funds in the bank that he needed them to withdraw, according to court documents. The Central Bank does not hold private funds and deals strictly with other banks. All those suspected of attempting to withdraw funds in the scheme have been arrested.

Central Bank staff told prosecutors that the documents carried identical stamps and signatures to those of the bank. "Any other banks would be tricked unless they sent them back to the Central Bank," they said. It was not clear whether Sonali's name is real, an alias or wholly fictional. He has been convicted in the other cases in his absence. IK told the court that he was a victim of fraud himself. He said that he had a plot of land in Iran and had wanted to build a tourist village.

"I advertised in a newspaper that I was seeking an investor for my land," IK told the court. He was then contacted by an investor, Sayeed Mohammed Husaini, who offered to finance the project. The investor said he was serving as a middleman for Sonali. The funds withdrawn from the Central Bank were to be used for IK's project, while Mr Husaini would collect one per cent as a personal bonus. Mr Husaini told IK that Sonali had billions of dirhams in the UAE Central Bank and would provide IK with power of attorney, enabling him to claim the funds, the court heard. IK does not speak Arabic or English.

One of IK's workers in Iran contacted his brother, NB, in Al Ain, and asked him to translate for IK, according to testimony. IK, who was not represented by an attorney, told the court knew he could not withdraw the funds as he only had copies of the documents, which were faxed to him by Sonali. NB's attorney told the court there was no evidence that he was trying to commit fraud. "The bank staff, the police investigation and the defendants' confessions to police and public prosecution have included nothing that indicates [NB] was involved in the [fraud] case," Mahmoud al Azmeh, for NB, told the court.

"There is nothing in the UAE law nor in any other law that punishes translators for translation." IK confirmed NB had only served as the translator. In March this year, Sonali was sentenced in absentia to five years' imprisonment for his part in a separate Dh36bn Central Bank withdrawal scam. hhassan@thenational.ae

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Hertz (www.hertz.ae) offers compact car rental from about $300 per week, including taxes. Emirates Skywards members can earn points on their car hire through Hertz.

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For information on Crater Lake National Park, visit www.nps.gov/crla/index.htm . Because of the altitude, large parts of the park are closed in winter due to snow. While the park’s summer season is May 22-October 31, typically, the full loop of the Rim Drive is only possible from late July until the end of October. Entry costs $25 per car for a day. For accommodation, see www.travelcraterlake.com. For information on Umpqua Hot Springs, see www.fs.usda.gov and https://soakoregon.com/umpqua-hot-springs/. For Bend, see https://www.visitbend.com/.

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Where to apply

Applicants should send their completed applications - CV, covering letter, sample(s) of your work, letter of recommendation - to Nick March, Assistant Editor in Chief at The National and UAE programme administrator for the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism, by 5pm on April 30, 2020

Please send applications to nmarch@thenational.ae and please mark the subject line as “Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism (UAE programme application)”.

The local advisory board will consider all applications and will interview a short list of candidates in Abu Dhabi in June 2020. Successful candidates will be informed before July 30, 2020. 

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Director: Ali Abbasi

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Rating: 3/5

It's up to you to go green

Nils El Accad, chief executive and owner of Organic Foods and Café, says going green is about “lifestyle and attitude” rather than a “money change”; people need to plan ahead to fill water bottles in advance and take their own bags to the supermarket, he says.

“People always want someone else to do the work; it doesn’t work like that,” he adds. “The first step: you have to consciously make that decision and change.”

When he gets a takeaway, says Mr El Accad, he takes his own glass jars instead of accepting disposable aluminium containers, paper napkins and plastic tubs, cutlery and bags from restaurants.

He also plants his own crops and herbs at home and at the Sheikh Zayed store, from basil and rosemary to beans, squashes and papayas. “If you’re going to water anything, better it be tomatoes and cucumbers, something edible, than grass,” he says.

“All this throwaway plastic - cups, bottles, forks - has to go first,” says Mr El Accad, who has banned all disposable straws, whether plastic or even paper, from the café chain.

One of the latest changes he has implemented at his stores is to offer refills of liquid laundry detergent, to save plastic. The two brands Organic Foods stocks, Organic Larder and Sonnett, are both “triple-certified - you could eat the product”.  

The Organic Larder detergent will soon be delivered in 200-litre metal oil drums before being decanted into 20-litre containers in-store.

Customers can refill their bottles at least 30 times before they start to degrade, he says. Organic Larder costs Dh35.75 for one litre and Dh62 for 2.75 litres and refills will cost 15 to 20 per cent less, Mr El Accad says.

But while there are savings to be had, going green tends to come with upfront costs and extra work and planning. Are we ready to refill bottles rather than throw them away? “You have to change,” says Mr El Accad. “I can only make it available.”


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