Israeli-UAE group to buy Finablr for $1
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Troubled UAE-based remittance and foreign exchange firm Finablr Plc, owned by NRI businessman BR Shetty, has decided to sell its operations to Global Fintech Investments Holding AG (GFIH), an affiliate of Prism Group AG of Israel, for $1.
Finablr, having a direct presence in 45 nations through its licensed operations complemented by a network reach spanning 170 countries, commanded a market value of around $2 billion till last year. Prism has formed a consortium with Abu Dhabi’s Royal Strategic Partners (RSP) for the deal.
Shetty-promoted UAE Exchange and its parent firm Finablr — which is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) — controlled a sizeable remittance business involving non-resident Indians (NRIs). In March, the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) had slapped curbs and decided to “oversee the operations management” of UAE Exchange LLC, a remittance and wage protection firm in the Middle East promoted by Shetty. He had moved to Abu Dhabi from India in 1975 and once had a net worth of over $ 3.1 billion.
In April, Finablr found out about $1 billion of debt hidden from its board after a US investment firm alleged that NMC Health inflated cash balances and understated its debt. This scandal pushed Finablr’s sister firm NMC Health Plc — which was at one stage valued at $10 billion on the LSE and was a top healthcare provider in the UAE — into administration.
In an LSE filing, Finablr said, “In return for the transfer of Finablr to GFIH, in addition to the nominal initial consideration of US$ 1 payable, GFIH is providing working capital support to the company to enable it to continue to operate and support various stakeholders, including employees and creditors.”
Courtesy: indianexpress.com
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Delhi court sentences Haryana gangster Vikas Gulia, associate to life imprisonment
New Delhi (PTI): A Delhi court has sentenced Haryana gangster Vikas Gulia and his associate to life imprisonment under MCOCA provisions, but refused the death penalty saying the offences did not fall under the category of 'rarest of the rare cases'.
Additional Sessions Judge Vandana Jain sentenced Gulia and Dhirpal alias Kana to rigorous imprisonment for life under Section 3 (punishment for organised crime) of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
In an order dated December 13, the judge said, "Death sentence can only be awarded in 'rarest of the rare cases' wherein the murder is committed in an extremely inhumane, barbarous, grotesque or dastardly manner as to arouse umbrage of the community at large."
The judge said that on weighing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, it could be concluded that the present case did not fall under the category, and so, the death penalty could not be imposed upon the convicts.
"Thus, both the convicts are sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs 3 lakh each, for committing the offence under Section 3 of MCOCA," she said.
The public prosecutor, seeking the death penalty for both the accused, submitted that they were involved in several unlawful activities while they were on bail in other cases.
He argued that the accused had shown no respect for the law and acted without any fear of legal consequences, and therefore did not deserve any leniency from the court.
The court noted that both convicts were involved in offences of murder, attempt to murder, extortion, robbery, house trespass, and criminal intimidation. Besides, they had misused the liberty of interim bail granted to them by absconding.
It said, "The terror of the convicts was such that it created fear psychosis in the mind of the general public, and they lost complete faith in the law enforcement agencies and chose to accede to the illegal demands of convicts. Despite suffering losses, they could not gather the courage to depose against them."
The court noted that Gulia was involved in at least 18 criminal cases, while Dhirpal had links to 10 serious offences.
It underlined that MCOCA had been enacted "keeping in view the fact that organised crime had come up as a serious threat to society, as it knew no territorial boundaries and is fuelled by illegal wealth generated by committing the offence of extortion, contract killings, kidnapping for ransom, collection of protection money, murder, etc."
Both accused persons had been convicted on December 10 in a case registered at Najafgarh police station. The police filed a chargesheet under Section 3 (punishment for organised crime) and 4 (punishment for possessing unaccountable wealth on behalf of member of organised crime syndicate) of MCOCA.
