An Indian business tycoon facing jail over a Dh150 million ($40.8 million) Bitcoin money-laundering plot is to make a final appeal before Dubai's highest court next week.
Kuwaiti-born Balvinder Singh Sahni, widely known as Abu Sabah, was convicted of a string of financial crimes as founder and chairman of the Raj Sahni Group, a property development company.
He was sentenced to five years in prison and fined Dh500,000 by a court in Dubai in May. He is to be deported after serving his sentence.
In August, Dubai's Court of Appeal further ruled that the 30 accused in the case, including Sahni, must repay the full Dh150 million prosecutors say was laundered.
Dubai Court of Cassation will consider an appeal against the verdict against all 30 on December 31 and its decision will be binding.
The National has attempted to contact Sahni's lawyer for comment.
Court documents obtained by The National show a criminal investigation into the 53 year old's business practices was launched last December. It uncovered a network of illicit financial activity, using Bitcoin, between October 2018 and January 2019.
The inquiry followed a tip-off to Abu Dhabi's State Security Agency, which then accused 30 people of being behind the plot.
Records show the group laundered money in co-operation with organised crime groups in the UK. Funds of about Dh180 million from British-based drug traffickers were transferred anonymously via Bitcoin to five digital wallets owned by Sahni.
These funds were then transferred into cash by those apparently working for Sahni and delivered physically, in dirhams, to a rented apartment at a Dubai luxury hotel.
Sahni then deducted 4 per cent of the cash as profit and deposited the money into the accounts of three companies he owned.
The authority arrested 20 people, with 10 suspects still at large. All 30 were found guilty at trial, some in absentia, with prison sentences varying from one to five years.
The three companies owned by the Indian businessman – the Raj Sahni Group, Sabah Tower RSG and Reeva Realty FZ-LLC – were each fined Dh5 million on the orders of the court.
Sahni, a luxury car collector, often posted photos of his expensive vehicles on social media platforms. He made headlines in 2016 after buying the single-digit 5 Dubai licence plate for Dh33 million (about $9 million at the time).
Sahni was a familiar presence on Dubai's social scene, often seen wearing his distinctive royal blue kandura, baseball cap and matching trainers.
His Instagram feed is awash with videos flaunting his wealth to his millions of followers, shopping in luxury stores, and posing with lions and chimpanzees in private zoos.
