Two senior managers at a multinational bank sentenced to seven years in jail each for stealing Dh25 million from corporate accounts have had their sentences reduced by Dubai Court of Appeal.
A Lebanese woman, 33, and an American, 43, will now serve five years in jail each to be followed by deportation for embezzlement, forgery and the use of forged documents.
The court was told that between October 2012 and March 2013, the pair, aided by a Pakistani driver, 34, used forged documents to steal money from a 57-year-old Iranian investor.
The driver, who remains at large, will serve a seven-year jail term. He was sentenced in his absence.
Ten other defendants, seven from India, two from Pakistan and one from Lebanon were convicted of aiding and abetting the two managers. Two were originally sentenced to seven years to be followed by deportation by the Dubai Criminal Court, while the remaining eight were jailed for six months each.
The Dubai Court of Appeal overturned the sentence against the ten defendants and handed them a three-month jail term each, then ordered the cancellation of the deportation order.
A services manager at the bank handling the Iranian's accounts provided his accounts details to two of the defendants, who used the information to forge documents and transfer money into a separate account.
The investor said: "I established five new companies in Dubai and opened bank accounts for them. I then deposited around Dh36.5 million. In March 2013, Dubai International Financial Centre requested bank statements for these accounts … I discovered Dh25 million had gone missing from my accounts."
The man reported the incident to police and later investigations revealed the involvement of all 13 defendants.
The Lebanese and American managers denied charges against them at both the criminal and appeal courts.
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
How to avoid crypto fraud
- Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
- Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
- Avoid suspicious social media ads promoting fraudulent schemes.
- Only invest in crypto projects that you fully understand.
- Critically assess whether a project’s promises or returns seem too good to be true.
- Only use reputable platforms that have a track record of strong regulatory compliance.
- Store funds in hardware wallets as opposed to online exchanges.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
The Brutalist
Director: Brady Corbet
Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
Rating: 3.5/5
Other ways to buy used products in the UAE
UAE insurance firm Al Wathba National Insurance Company (AWNIC) last year launched an e-commerce website with a facility enabling users to buy car wrecks.
Bidders and potential buyers register on the online salvage car auction portal to view vehicles, review condition reports, or arrange physical surveys, and then start bidding for motors they plan to restore or harvest for parts.
Physical salvage car auctions are a common method for insurers around the world to move on heavily damaged vehicles, but AWNIC is one of the few UAE insurers to offer such services online.
For cars and less sizeable items such as bicycles and furniture, Dubizzle is arguably the best-known marketplace for pre-loved.
Founded in 2005, in recent years it has been joined by a plethora of Facebook community pages for shifting used goods, including Abu Dhabi Marketplace, Flea Market UAE and Arabian Ranches Souq Market while sites such as The Luxury Closet and Riot deal largely in second-hand fashion.
At the high-end of the pre-used spectrum, resellers such as Timepiece360.ae, WatchBox Middle East and Watches Market Dubai deal in authenticated second-hand luxury timepieces from brands such as Rolex, Hublot and Tag Heuer, with a warranty.
HIV on the rise in the region
A 2019 United Nations special analysis on Aids reveals 37 per cent of new HIV infections in the Mena region are from people injecting drugs.
New HIV infections have also risen by 29 per cent in western Europe and Asia, and by 7 per cent in Latin America, but declined elsewhere.
Egypt has shown the highest increase in recorded cases of HIV since 2010, up by 196 per cent.
Access to HIV testing, treatment and care in the region is well below the global average.
Few statistics have been published on the number of cases in the UAE, although a UNAIDS report said 1.5 per cent of the prison population has the virus.
Name: Peter Dicce
Title: Assistant dean of students and director of athletics
Favourite sport: soccer
Favourite team: Bayern Munich
Favourite player: Franz Beckenbauer
Favourite activity in Abu Dhabi: scuba diving in the Northern Emirates
