Dubai bank is behind British businessman’s 30-year jail sentence, family claims | Dubai

His brother-in-law alleges that a Dubai bank was instrumental in the long detention of 71-year-old British businessman Ryan Cornelius, who is serving a 30-year prison sentence that will keep him in prison until he is 84.

Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), which claims to be a pioneer in championing Islamic values ​​in banking, is on track to make profits of more than $2 billion this year, latest accounts show.

Cornelius was detained in 2008 and convicted, along with three others, of defrauding the bank in 2011. He has already served 17 years in prison, but in 2018 his sentence was extended for another 20 years at the request of the bank. According to the information given to the UN working group on arbitrary detentionmeaning he will not be released until 2038, when he will be 84 years old.

He was accused of defaulting on a bank loan to finance a business deal, a charge he denied and was ordered by a Dubai court to pay $432 million.

DIB filed a lawsuit to recover the loan, using a law that extends prison sentences for convicts who do not return the proceeds of fraud.

Cornelius’ wife, Heather, is essentially homeless and has no way of raising the necessary amount to secure her release.

The bank seized all of his assets, including a property development called the Plantation estate, now renamed Acres, which would have been worth more than $3 billion based on advertised villa prices. This valuation after the land was developed is more than double the amount of the outstanding restructured loan he received from the bank.

Cornelius was arrested in May 2008 while traveling via Dubai on his way back from Karachi, Pakistan, to his home in Bahrain, apparently at the request of DIB. His brother-in-law, Chris Pagett, claims he and his partners were $10 million ahead of the agreed-upon repayment schedule.

The allegations come as the United Arab Emirates has pledged to consider a letter sent by 146 British MPs urging Dubai to show mercy. Khalid Saud Al Qasimi, the UAE’s deputy ambassador in London, last week met with Tim Roca, a Labor MP and deputy chairman of the inter-parliamentary group on arbitrary detentions, and said he would ensure the letter was forwarded to the relevant authorities in Dubai.

Other MPs, including former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith and liberal democrat Tim Clement-Jones, went to the UAE embassy in London last week to deliver the letter, but it was decided that only one MP should meet Emirati diplomats.

MPs hope the UAE’s national day on December 2 – usually a moment when UAE leaders issue amnesty – could be an opportunity for the UAE to put an end to Cornelius’ ordeal. A similar appeal last year did not bring any response from the UAE, as did other family appeals supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In 2022, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ruled that Cornelius had been detained arbitrarily and noted that the extension of his initial 10-year sentence for another 20 years in 2018 was decided by a judge in a one-day hearing behind closed doors, which bore little resemblance to an ordinary hearing. The UAE did not respond to a UN request to provide evidence.

The letter written by the parliamentarians with extremely respectful expressions indicates that Cornelius will spend 30 years in prison until 2038.

DIB chairman Mohammed Al Shaibani is also the director general of the Dubai Ruler’s Court. There is no suggestion that he used his status to influence the court. The bank claims to be the first bank to incorporate Islamic principles into its practices. It says: “As champions of decency, equality and transparency, our organization reflects the modernity, diversity and growth of the city whose name we share.”

The bank, which says it has 5 million customers, made pre-tax profits of £2.01 billion in the first 10 months of this year and its assets reached £82 billion. It was stated that penalties are the responsibility of the independent judicial system.

Cornelius was initially detained and placed in solitary confinement for six weeks, and the DIB eventually began seizing his personal assets and businesses, including his home in London, according to information provided to the UN working group. He was tried for fraud in 2010. The case was initially dismissed for lack of evidence, but he was not released. Following a retrial, in 2011 Cornelius and three other foreigners were charged with theft from a public institution; this essentially redefined his outstanding loan to the bank as theft from the state. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was ordered to pay the outstanding balance and fined $500 million.

Roca said: “There are two aspects to this. There is fraud and a dispute over money, which is openly denied. But he is a bankrupt 71-year-old man who is in prison and has little chance of repaying his debt. This is a respectful cross-party request for the UK parliament to exercise the Emir’s prerogative and grant amnesty. There is an incredibly important relationship between the UAE and the UK.”

Pagett said: “The call for amnesty, signed by 146 British MPs, may at least encourage the Ruler of Dubai to begin to re-evaluate whether everything he believes he has gained by persisting with this relentless display of cruelty is worth the long-term reputational damage he will suffer.

“When it comes to sharia banking law, establishing foreclosure procedures could not be clearer. A bank must take whatever is offered as collateral for a loan, sell it within a stipulated time frame to determine its true value, and clear this to determine whatever is due to be repaid by the borrower. None of this appears to have happened in Ryan’s case.”