DUBAI: A Dubai-based British woman is calling for a harsher sentence against a fellow countryman who duped her out of more than £1 million to fund his extravagant lifestyle.
UK trader Robert Hiom, 45, was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in jail by a London court last week after he pleaded guilty to investment fraud. But his victim, Racha Al Khawaja, who holds a key position in UAE-based financial services company Menacorp, said the jail term is woefully inadequate.
“He [Robert Hiom] has left us shattered and financially bankrupt. He was a dear friend and the godfather to our youngest daughter. We trusted him with our life savings, but he betrayed us by spinning an elaborate web of deceit to con us. We had saved the money so we could retire early. Obviously that’s not happening now. My father Abdul Raheem was so distraught when he heard about our loss that he suffered a heart attack and died. I am very disappointed by the sentence. It took us three years and a lot of money to get justice, but this man will get to serve only two years in prison. This is not fair,” Al Khawaja told XPRESS.
Hard-earned money
Al Khawaja, who has been living in the UAE for eight years, said she and her husband Nick Wright invested over Dh5.5 million in Hiom’s digital trading firm PanopticFX between 2011 and 2012, but he blew all their hard-earned money on luxuries including a 9,000 square foot rented villa in Palm Jumeirah.
“We never suspected a thing because he forged bank statements to show our investment was growing. Eventually we found out that the trading firm was a charade, a ponzy scheme and that he had no intention of returning our money. So we took legal action,” she said.
Bank statements produced as evidence before the Wood Green Crown Court in London show Hiom was steeped in debt and forked out £2,000 on National Lottery tickets for almost two years every month hoping to hit the jackpot.
Al Khawaja said she knows of at least one more UAE-based businessman who invested in PanopticFX. “Robert Hiom is a smooth talker and knows a lot of people in Dubai as he was a regular visitor here. I fear he might come to the UAE after serving his sentence and con others,” she said.
YOUSPEAK: Have you lost money in an investment scam?
