Abu Dhabi: A Kuwaiti inmate of the Central Prison, who posed as a sheikh and businessman while serving his term and defrauded a number of businessmen and fashionistas of their money, had his 10 year jail term upheld by the Court of Cassation on Sunday.
The imposter, who is in his 20s and is already serving a 19 year prison sentence for other fraud offences, had proposed to a rich girl while in prison, hired a private jet for her, before he defrauded her of millions of dianrs, according to the court documents.
The convict was committing fraud from his prison cell. Through his accomplices, he would give valuable gifts, mostly expensive watches, to his victims, including famous people, sports players and artists, before embezzling millions of dinars from them.
Three accomplices had their imprisonment of four years each confirmed and fines of 1.5 million dinars in total. They were also ordered to return the proceeds of their crimes, amounting to nearly 26 million dinars.
The court also ordered the deportation of the foreign defendants after they had served their terms.
Last year, the Criminal Court sentenced seven other defendants with varying jail terms, considering two of them as his accomplices, as they were aware of his scheme. They were responsible for delivering expensive gifts to his victims and convincing them that he was a member of the royal family.
The Criminal Court also decided to refer the case to the Civil Court, where compensation for the victims was requested and the size of the damages decided.
In court the fake sheikh stated: “Fraud and embezzlement are in my blood .. I cannot give it up!”
