No evidence of Central Bank fraud: lawyer

Abu Dhabi // The lawyer for seven people convicted of trying to fraudulently withdraw €7 billion (Dh34.4bn) from the Central Bank cited initial acquittals and a recent rejection by a high court as reasons for clearing their clients yesterday.

"We would reiterate the defence we presented before the Court of First Instance, which acquitted the defendants and before the Court of Cassation, which rejected the guilty verdicts," the defence lawyer told the Court of Appeal.

"Based on the decisions of the two courts, we ask this court to acquit the defendants for lack of evidence and criminal intent."

The defendants - four Iranians, two Germans and one Belgian - were acquitted by Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance in March.

In justifying the acquittal, Chief Justice Saeed Abdul Baseer wrote that none of the documents used as evidence was in the name of any of the defendants, and there was no indication they had intended to withdraw the money.

The main defendant - "Agha Farzeen Sonali", an Iranian, and the name that appears in the forged documents - was sentenced in his absence to five years in prison.

Prosecutors appealed and Abu Dhabi Court of Appeal sentenced the remaining six to two years in prison this year. They appealed the verdict to the Court of Cassation, which in October sent the case back for a retrial.

Three of the men - the Germans and the Belgian - said they had planned to build a five-star hospital in Abu Dhabi when they were approached by four Iranians with a "legitimate business deal" to finance the project. The Iranians convinced them they could withdraw the money from an account at the Central Bank and transfer it to a bank in Frankfurt, Germany.

The three entered the bank with a document claiming to give authorisation for one of the Germans to receive the money on behalf of Mr Sonali.

The three men were held and led police officers to the four Iranians, who were accused of forging the documents. The next hearing in the case will be on January 27.