UAE BARQ برق الإمارات – نبضك
The Abu Dhabi Criminal Court, competent to hear crimes of money laundering and tax evasion, has convicted 40 defendants of different nationalities as well as 8 companies, on charges of forming a gang organization and practicing economic activities without a license. They have prepared and designed a digital platform which they used to commit crimes of fraud and money laundering. The defendants have been sentenced to imprisonment for terms ranging between 5 and 10 years and a fine of about 860 million dirhams. All their assets and proceeds from the crime have been confiscated; and 23 expat convicts shall be deported.
In details, the defendants are convicted on charges of fraud and money laundering, where the convicted companies have to pay each a fine of 50 million dirhams, each of the 23 main defendants are sentenced to 10 years in prison and a fine of 10 million dirhams, while 11 defendants are sentenced to 7 years in prison and a fine of 10 million; and one defendant is sentenced to 5 years in prison and a fine of 10 million dirhams. Five defendants are sentenced to six months in prison and a fine of 20,000 dirhams each, as they have been convicted on charges of collecting funds believed to be illegal.
According to the details of the case, the security service received information about a new gang formed by a group of people; 17 of them are Emirati, 16 Iranian, 2 Indian, 1 Saudi, 1 Mauritanian, 1 American, 1 Greek and 1 Comorian; who engage in fraud, unlicensed economic operations and money laundering crimes.
Investigations indicate that this formation has illegally simulated a digital trading platform in the stock market using funds collected from subscribers and shareholders, and deluded the victims into obtaining profits ranging between 16% and 18% of the invested capital per month. In addition, they deceived victims by providing the possibility of manual trading of shares. This was done through companies and natural persons in the state, and then the gang formation announced the conversion of the victims’ funds into fake digital currency called (Foin), thus not enabling investors to recover their capital.
Upon referring the case to the competent public prosecution of financial crimes in Abu Dhabi, inquiry and investigations indicated that during the years from 2015 to 2017, the formation managed unlicensed organizations, and this organization in the Middle East region is headed by M.R.A.K, Iranian national, who relied on complex schemes to conduct his crime, whereby his members are linked in a hierarchical form, in a way that the other accused persons know only the person above them in the hierarchy.
In terms of the techniques used in fraud, the investigations showed that the accused do not receive cheques or money transfers from the victims to avoid suspicion, so all their operations were done by receiving money in cash. They have also created groups and teams to organize work, conducted training workshops, and held massive concerts attended by international artists.
