3 Indians sentenced to 517 years jail in fraud case in UAE

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DUBAI: A Dubai court sentenced three Indians - including two men and a woman - to 517 years each in jail for swindling thousands of people in a multi-million-dollar fraud case, the UAE media reported.

Identified as Sydney Lemos, his wife Valany and Ryan D'Souza were convicted on Sunday by the Dubai Misdemeanours Court in the 515 cases filed against them and were sentenced to one year in jail each in 513 cases and two years in jail for the remaining two cases, Gulf News reported.

Sydney Lemos, from Mapusa in north Goa, was the chief executive of Exential, a forex trading company in Dubai Media City. Investors lost over USD 200 million when Exential failed to pay out after promising 120 per cent returns on a USD 25,000 (Dirham 91,800) investment.

Dr Mohammad Hanafi, the presiding judge of the special bench, sentenced Valany in absentia. She is currently at large.

Lemos, who is in his late 30s, was arrested in January 2017 while de Souza was arrested while he was trying to leave the UAE.

The Exential Group took money from investors promising them huge returns by investing the money in the foreign exchange market. The investors were initially paid, but gradually the payments stopped, the report said.

Investigations have revealed that Exential owner Lemos had transferred the money to Australia-based brokerage firm FC Prime owned by his wife Valany.

In July 2016, the Department of Economic Development of Dubai closed down the Exential's office.

Earlier reports suggested that nearly 7,000 residents of UAE lost their life's savings in the massive scam.

A UAE lawyer representing a group of victims said the ruling may help recover some of his clients' money.

Atty Barney Almazar, director of Gulf Law, is working with the Philippine Embassy to assist victims. He is the advocate of a number of Filipinos who invested in Exential.

"The court decision of more than 500 years' imprisonment sends a very strong message to the public that Dubai is not taking financial crimes lightly," Almazar told Gulf News.

"This judgement can be used to support the victims' civil claims and efforts in locating the assets of the company. The decision will be acceptable in foreign jurisdictions. In any criminal act, the fruits of the crime will be forfeited. Of course, there is a process and this is not a guarantee," Almazar said.

(With inputs from PTI)