Dubai: A lawyer representing scores of victims in the $300-million Exential forex scam fears vital evidence might have been tampered with after the seal and lock put on the company’s office by Dubai authorities were found broken.
Exential’s head office in Arenco Tower in Dubai Media City was sealed and locked by the Department of Economic Department (DED) in Dubai and the company was ordered to cease trading on July 18, 2016.
However, Hany Elsaid of Abdul Rahman Naseeb Associates and Legal Consultants said when he visited the Exential office on January 30 with a DED official to execute a court order to freeze the company’s assets, they found that both the seal and lock on the front door were broken.
“I was shocked beyond disbelief. The door was open and the broken lock was lying on the floor. We first visited the place on September,” recalled Hany Elsaid.
“I wasn’t prepared for anything like this. So we immediately called the police. They arrived with a forensic team within minutes and took fingerprints. The matter is now being investigated by Al Barsha police,” he said.
A comment from Al Barsha police was not immediately available.
Video footage from CCTV cameras installed in the building show that the break-in happened on December 26.
“I have handed the footage to the police. It shows Valany Cardozo Lemos, the wife of the owner of Exential entering the premises illegally with other staff members. This is very serious as we fear they might have removed incriminating evidence from the sealed office,” said the lawyer.
Valany Lemos flew to India on January 3. There are fears she might never come back.
Documents in possession of Gulf News conclusively prove that she owned FC Prime Markets, a forex brokerage company based in Australia, when the scam happened. FC Prime Markets was one of the financial brokers used by Exential to send the money of UAE investors abroad. “The evidence is mounting against her,” said another lawyer representing around 50 victims, mostly from aviation and oil and gas sectors.
Valany Lemos’ husband and Exential owner Sydney Lemos, 36, who peddled a Ponzi scheme in the guise of a legitimate foreign currency trading opportunity between 2011 and 2016 is already in police custody.
Sydney Lemos was first arrested in late December but was released on bail only to be taken into custody a second time in mid-January.
His Exential group promised annual returns of 120 per cent on a minimum investment of $25,000. Enticed by the incredible returns, nearly 7,000 UAE residents fell for the scheme only to lose their hard-earned money in a web of deceit.
“It’s a very complicated case. Shortly, we will be collaborating with authorities in foreign countries to retrieve the money of investors,” said Hany Elsaid.
