Three men who scammed almost 2,000 victims out of Dh310 million through a bogus car trade business, have been sentenced to 13 years in prison and fined Dh600,000 each.
The men, all Emiratis, were sentenced to three years for fraud and ten years for money laundering, by Abu Dhabi Criminal Court.
A fourth man, also Emirati, has also been found guilty of the same charges, but was sentenced to five years in prison and fined Dh500,000 because he had already paid back 95 per cent of the money he scammed out of the victims.
Fifty-four suspects were referred to the criminal court, out of which 17 fled the country and eight were brought back by Interpol. One defendant is at large.
The trial was held after thousands of victims reported that they have been scammed to public prosecution.
Each fraudster and his agents were tried in a separate case, as each ran his own phoney business, or as the court called it "imaginary wallet". The court cleared all agents who were charged with assisting with the fraud.
Read more: Thousands caught up in Dh1.3bn investment scam in Abu Dhabi
Police first began investigations in July 2016 after receiving more than 400 complaints within five days.
The scam began when the pioneer scammer decided to buy a car with a post-dated cheque. He then sold the car to pay off his debts. When the cheque was due, he bought another car with a post-dated cheque, and sold it to pay off the first cheque for the first car. Prosecutors said he then decided to use the scheme to scam money out of multiple victims.
He bought a number of cars with post-dated cheques and sold them to use the money. The man then expanded by recruiting agents to convince people to invest in his car trade business, with 2 per cent interest.
Three other defendants then branched out and began their own fake investment schemes using the same method and promising investors 200 per cent interest on the sold cars. The fake investments were advertised publicly and on social media, which attracted many people to join.
Abu Dhabi attorney general Ali Al Balushi previously said the scam was the first case of investment fund fraud in Abu Dhabi in five years.
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
TERMINAL HIGH ALTITUDE AREA DEFENCE (THAAD)
What is THAAD?
It is considered to be the US's most superior missile defence system.
Production:
It was created in 2008.
Speed:
THAAD missiles can travel at over Mach 8, so fast that it is hypersonic.
Abilities:
THAAD is designed to take out ballistic missiles as they are on their downward trajectory towards their target, otherwise known as the "terminal phase".
Purpose:
To protect high-value strategic sites, such as airfields or population centres.
Range:
THAAD can target projectiles inside and outside the Earth's atmosphere, at an altitude of 150 kilometres above the Earth's surface.
Creators:
Lockheed Martin was originally granted the contract to develop the system in 1992. Defence company Raytheon sub-contracts to develop other major parts of the system, such as ground-based radar.
UAE and THAAD:
In 2011, the UAE became the first country outside of the US to buy two THAAD missile defence systems. It then stationed them in 2016, becoming the first Gulf country to do so.
Tips for entertaining with ease
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THE BIO
BIO:
Born in RAK on December 9, 1983
Lives in Abu Dhabi with her family
She graduated from Emirates University in 2007 with a BA in architectural engineering
Her motto in life is her grandmother’s saying “That who created you will not have you get lost”
Her ambition is to spread UAE’s culture of love and acceptance through serving coffee, the country’s traditional coffee in particular.
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League quarter-final second leg:
Juventus 1 Ajax 2
Ajax advance 3-2 on aggregate
