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29 March 2024

Seven jailed in Dh33bn fraud case

Warrant against new suspect in Mabhouh case. (AP)

Published
By Abdel Hai Mohamed

The Abu Dhabi Court of Appeal yesterday overturned the not-guilty verdict for seven defendants in the €7.2 billion (Dh33.4bn) Central Bank (CB) fraud case. They were charged with forging bank documents to embezzle the money.

The court sentenced each of the seven defendants to two years and then deportation. It upheld the verdict of the Court of First Instance, which had sentenced the main accused, an Iranian national, to five years. AK (at large) was sentenced for forging documents to siphon off cash. The others – four Iranians and three Europeans – had been acquitted.

However, Abu Dhabi Public Prosecution sent a memo to the Court of Appeal asking that the verdict of the Court of First Instance be overturned and demanded the most severe punishment for the accused.

The Court of Appeal ordered the arrest of the seven acquitted in response to the Public Prosecution appeal, one day after the Court of First Instance ruling.

AR, QH, MH and MM (Iranians) supplied the forged documents to LM, HB and FT (Europeans) who handed it over to the people concerned in the Central Bank.

The Court of Appeal listened to HB (German) who denied the charges, saying he was not aware the documents were falsified. He said he presented copies to the Central Bank after he saw the original with one of the four Iranians. The German said he was introduced to the Iranian who, he said, represented an American company for financial transactions, real estate and consultancy.

The court also listened to an administrator of the Central Bank's anti-money laundering unit, who testified that three of the defendants, two Belgians and one German, presented the false documents, claiming they wanted to collect funds belonging to them from the bank.

In July last year, Abu Dhabi police foiled an attempt to embezzle $41bn (Dh150.5bn). Also, a tourist and an investor demanded €20bn from the Central Bank, saying one of them had inherited the money.