Al Boom verdicts, 900-year sentence suspended by appeals court

DUBAI // The Court of Appeal today suspended all previous court rulings against the businessman Abed Al Boom — who had been sentenced to more than 900 years in prison for fraud — instead referring the case to a special committee formed in 2009.

The judges said the liquidation panel, created on orders from Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Ruler of Dubai and Vice President of the UAE, had the specialisation to handle the case. The courts had no such specialisation, they said.

Al Boom's prison sentence was cancelled as well. He had been convicted in February of breaching the trust of 3,706 investors and embezzling Dh960 million.

"The ruling today has cancelled the longest jail term given in history," said Ali Al Falasi, one of Al Boom's lawyers.

Lawyers involved in the case noted that this was not an acquittal, and that those allegedly defrauded by Al Boom had not lost any of their rights or standing in the case.

wissa@thenational.ae