BASURI DESAI
basuri@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: In a new twist to the Dubai forex fraud, the investors have now claimed that the Goan couple namely Sydney and Valany Lemos from Mapusa continued with their investment activities by opening a new company Pinnacle Asset & Investment Management at the Emirates Tower despite the Dubai Economic Department shutting down their Exential company office in Dubai Media City in July 2016.
An investor representing over 150 other investors told Herald that Sydney, who was out during that time, had started a new company Pinnacle and started the same trade taking the investment to the next level.
“This time they were not accepting USD 25,000 but USD 50,000 for a single account taking the trade to next level and people were still investing their hard-earned money”, Vishal, an investor said.
Vishal, who hails from New Delhi, informed that their group may approach the central agency in India with a request to investigate the fraud.
He said that there are only 513 cases filed with UAE authorities but there are hundreds of such investors from India, who have lost their lifetime savings.
“It is very difficult to hire lawyers as the fees here are very high and not affordable for an ordinary Indian”, Vishal added.
Speaking to Herald, another investor Ali Javan from Australia informed about the Pinnacle company started by the Lemos couple.
“I was fighting a case in the court against Sydney and his company but despite sealing the office by Dubai Economic Department, the couple continued duping people with Pinnacle company”, he claimed.
It may be recalled that Goan investors in Dubai said that they may approach Goa Police to file cases against the Lemos couple for
duping the investors.
Sydney, Valany and Ryan D’Souza were convicted on April 8, by the Dubai Misdemeanours Court in 515 cases filed against them and were sentenced to one year each in jail for 513 cases and two years each in jail for the remaining two cases as per media reports.
Sydney from Mapusa was the chief executive of Exential, a forex trading company. Investors lost over USD 200 million when Exential failed to pay them after promising 120 per cent returns on a USD 25,000 (Dirham 91,800) investment.
According to investors in Dubai, Valany is the signatory authority of the Exential company as agreements with the clients were signed by her. Valany, who escaped from UAE, is reportedly residing in Goa.
According the investors, 4000 Indian families have lost their hard-earned money invested in the forex company. They have also approached the Indian Consulate General (ICG) in Dubai and sought assistance in order to start the probe in India through a federal agency to recover the invested amount.
