THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Two of the Gulf's most prominent British expatriates have been jailed for ten years in Dubai and fined $500 million for defrauding a bank over projects including a giant polo hotel project.The downfall of Bahrain-based Charles Ridley, a private banker, and Ryan Cornelius, a hotelier, property developer and investor, has sent shock-waves through the expatriate community and cast a harsh light on the way Dubai handles financial crime.
The two men, along with a Dubai-based British property developer, Arthur Fitzwilliam, who was acquitted, and two Pakistani officials of the Dubai Islamic Bank were arrested in mid-2008. Their first trial collapsed last year when the judge refused to give a verdict.
Mr Ridley was accused of conspiring with the two bank officials to obtain a $501 million loan under false pretences. The money was to be lent to Mr Cornelius to invest in a variety of projects, including buying a Canadian oil refinery to rebuild it in Pakistan, and Mr Fitzwilliam's ambitious plans for a polo, equestrian, hotel and luxury villa complex in the desert outside Dubai. » | Richard Spencer, Dubai | Wednesday, April 27, 2011
