Two of the Gulf's most prominent British expatriates have been jailed for ten years in Dubai and fined $500 million
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. The two men were told to restructure the loan in 2007. Admissions made in the restructuring process...