Photo used for illustrative purpose only.

Mohammed Yaseen, Staff Reporter

The Dubai Criminal Court convicted a gang of 18 of different nationalities who were charged with laundering Dhs185million in the period from 2014 to 2020 by exploiting 3 companies they established after seizing the funds of clients of a GCC lawyer’s office.

The court sentenced 4 people to 3 years in jail and deportation after serving the jail term and sentenced 8 others to 1 year in jail and deportation. Two of them were fined Dhs20,000 and four others were acquitted.

The court confiscated the funds of all the suspects, equivalent to the value of the funds obtained from the crime, Dhs113,650,000, and fined the three companies founded by the convicts Dhs500,000. The main convict in the first case of the crime of breach of trust was acquitted.

The case papers indicate that a GCC lawyer discovered the treachery of the head of the Intellectual Property Department in an office affiliated with him, who seized the office’s fees from clients, and established three companies with the aim of deceiving clients and collecting office fees from a major car agency in the country.

The main convict in the money laundering case reportedly seized Dhs185 million from the office of the GCC lawyer, conniving with others. He also founded several companies in several countries, through which he received office fees in cooperation with a manager working in a car company in a European country, where the latter facilitated the transfer of office fees to account of the private company of the suspect.

According to the case papers, the gangsters controlled agencies for international brands in several countries and printed receipts in the name of their companies as one of the branches of the GCC Lawyer's Office, and so, they received millions of dirhams which they transferred to bank accounts belonging to people in several countries.

Also, three gangsters transferred millions of dirhams through exchange offices in close periods of time, which violates the law. Investigations showed that one of the gangsters set up several accounts in his home country, and three others transferred $6 million to one of them and $2 million were transferred to another with the aim of concealing their crime and using that money in projects with the aim of the money laundering.