UAE money laundering: Top executives jailed; ordered to return Dh8 billion

Abu Dhabi - The duo were also sentenced to 15 years in prison for the money laundering scheme.

The Abu Dhabi Criminal Court has sentenced a former senior management executive of a government-owned company and its CEO to 15 years in prison for money laundering.

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The pair — a former Chairman of the Board of Directors and a CEO of an Abu Dhabi company — was ordered to return about Dh8 billion to the two companies they misappropriated public funds from.

The court ordered the seizure of the proceeds resulting from the duo's criminal activities as well as property of equivalent value.

The two were ordered to pay Dh501,000 as temporary compensation to the victim companies. The court also sentenced the CEO to be deported after serving his prison sentence.

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Court documents revealed that the pair laundered the money by using forged documents, deliberately concealing the real nature of funds obtained, and injecting the funds into false investment transactions with several companies.

Investigations conducted by the Public Prosecution in Abu Dhabi further revealed that the accused exploited the names of the two victim companies to enter into agreements with companies outside the country — and did so by abusing their respective positions at the employing company.

They also created several companies outside the country to cover up the illegal activities, then used accounts and other companies to divide and distribute the funds to those involved in the crimes, and finally transferred the funds to other accounts in order to conceal their illegal sources.

• Abu Dhabi