3 Indians from Goa have been jailed for 517 years each by a Dubai court for their involvement in a multimillion dollars fraud case. According to reports, they had 515 cases filed on them and were sentenced to 1-year jail term for 513 of the cases and two years for the other two cases. The sentences were pronounced by the Misdemeanours court in Dubai, UAE.
According to reports, Sydney Lemos, who hails from Mapusa in Goa, his wife Valany Lemos and another person named Ryan D’Souza were sentenced in the multimillion-dollar fraud case by the court on Sunday. Valany was sentenced in absentia as she is yet to be arrested.
The 3 accused reportedly ran a company named The Extential Group which took huge amounts of money from investors promising them great returns in the foreign exchange market. They paid their investors back initially but later the investors lost almost 200 million dollars when Extential failed to pay them back after taking money promising 120% returns on a 25,000 Dirhams investment.
According to reports, Lemos is believed to be a flamboyant man who led a luxurious lifestyle and owned a football club in Goa. He reportedly transferred the money he collected to an Australia based firm RC Prime which was owned by his wife Velany.
After investors failed to get promised returns, the authorities were alerted and the Extential office was shut down by the Department of Economic Development of Dubai in 2016. The case was referred to a special court in October last year and the first hearing took place in December. The accused are charged with swindling and deception.
About 7000 residents of UAE have reportedly lost their savings in the scandal and many Filipinos too.
The sentences were pronounced by Dr Mohammad Hanafi. Atty Barney Almazaar, the Director of Gulf Law, a law firm that is working with the Philippine embassy to assist the victims stated that the court decision of 500+ years of imprisonment sends a very strong message to the public that Dubai is not taking financial crimes lightly.
