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UAE: Lawyer Penalized with Imprisonment and Fine for Tax Evasion
Abu Dhabi August 5, 2022:
The Abu Dhabi Criminal Court convicted the accused Asim Ghafoor, who has American citizenship, of committing two crimes of tax evasion and money laundering. The court sentenced him to three years in prison and imposed a fine of AED 3 million, along with deportation from the UAE.
The case arose upon the American authorities’ request for judicial assistance regarding their investigations of the accused for making suspicious money transfers to the state.
The UAE Public Prosecution (PP) started its procedures by studying the judicial assistance request and verifying the nature of the financial transactions related to the aforementioned accounts and bank transfers. Suspicions of money laundering crime aroused as the accused carried out international transfers without proof of their source. Based on the findings of the investigations, the accused was found guilty by the Criminal Court on charges of tax evasion and money laundering.