Indian businessman held for fraud in Dubai

Abu Dhabi, Jan 3 (IANS) An Indian chief executive of a forex trading company in Dubai who promised to double investors' money was arrested for suspected fraud, authorities said.

Sydney Lemos, 36, from Goa was the owner of Exential, a forex trading company here and was behind the failed Dh50 million ($13.6 million) foreign exchange scheme, the National daily reported.

His company was closed by the Department for Economic Development in July last year.

The daily said his clients lost money after his firm failed to pay out after promising 100 per cent returns on a Dh91,800 ($25,000) investment.

Legal experts issued new warnings to potential investors after Lemos circulated an email encouraging new investment in an "advisory service", trading under the Exential banner.

Lemos was arrested on December 21, said a spokesman for Carlton Huxley, British fraud investigation specialists who were working with a law firm to recover funds.

"We are working with various authorities both inside and outside Dubai, and looking at the alleged laundering of more than Dh50 million by one individual," the daily quoted a Carlton Huxley spokesman as saying.

Exential has earlier claimed that delays in processing investors' funds were due to anti-money laundering and compliance investigations in Australia, according to the report.

John Rynne, a Carlton Huxley director and former senior officer with the Metropolitan Police in London, warned people about investing in schemes they know little about.