Dubai court sentences 2 Indians to over 500 years of prison

Dubai: The Dubai court has sentenced two Indians to 517 years in jail. They were convicted for duping thousands of investors in a $200 million (Rs 13 billion) fraud case.

According to Gulf News Sydney Lemos (37) and Ryan de Souza (25) belong to the coastal state of Goa in western India. Lemos’s wife, who is currently absconding, has been given the same sentence.

The convicts had formed a company named Exential through which they introduced a fake scheme as a legitimate foreign currency trading programme and cheated many. Thus they lured many victims by offering them 120 percent annual returns on a minimum investment of $25,000 (over Rs 16 lakh).

The company initially yielded profits but later became bankrupt. The Dubai Economic Department shut down the company’s offices in July 2016.

Even after the company suffered losses few investors had faith in them saying that Sydney Lemos was not a crook but was trying to do something good.

The duo will be sent to Dubai Central Prison in Al Awir and will serve a year each for more than 500 criminal cases.

Giving logic behind the sentence beyond one’s lifetime, Barney Almazar, head of legal aid at the Philippine Embassy in the UAE said that such sentence means that even if they do very well in the correctional institution, they are unlikely to ever be released.