Dubai: Business owners in the UAE have sought the Indian consulate’s help to nab a conman who stole their goods and escaped to Hyderabad last month on a repatriation flight under India’s Vande Bharat Mission.
On Saturday, a delegation of victims met the Consul General of India in Dubai at his office and handed a memorandum seeking the arrest of Yogesh Ashok Yariaya, owner of the fraudulent Royal Luck Food Trading and prime suspect in the audacious Dh6 million scam.
Nearly 50 business owners in the UAE were left reeling when Dubai-based Royal Luck shut its Business Bay office overnight after procuring millions of dirhams worth of goods against post-dated cheques which later bounced. By the time victims realised that they had been defrauded, Yogesh had flown out and his entire staff had disappeared.
Indian Consul General assures victims
Indian Consul General Vipul said he will do whatever it takes to get justice for the victims. “I met some victims of Royal Luck scam today,” Vipul told Gulf News shortly after the meeting. “Apparently several people have been duped out of their money and the owner of the company has gone back to India. I assured the people who met me that we will help them in whatever way we can,” said Vipul adding that he will take up issue with both local and Indian authorities.
Chandrashkher Ganesha, who was part of the four-member delegation. said their meeting with the Consul General was fruitful. “We hope to use his good offices to get Yogesh arrested in India,” said Ganesha whose company Skydent Medical Equipment supplied medical face masks worth more than Dh175,000 to Royal Luck.
Long list of victims
Some of the other companies hit by the scam include; Saad Abdul Wahab (dates and vegetable oil: Dh683,800); Al Baraka Foods (rice and nuts: Dh393,000); Al Ahbab General Trading (frozen beef: Dh207,000); Yes Buy General Trading (tuna, pistachios and saffron: Dh300,725); Mehdu General Trading (French fries and Mozarella cheese: Dh229,000) and Crystal Foodstuff Trading (fresh fruits: Dh311,000).
Vipul said traders should do their due diligence before signing a new deal. “They need to check the credibility of not just the company but also of those behind it. In this case (Royal Luck) the audit reports show that the person had acquired the company only a few months back,” he said.
Intriguingly, Royal Luck’s audit report has been issued by the same auditors who prepared an audit report for Harbin Middle East Marine Services which pulled off a similar scam in 2017.
