UAE hands ex-lawyer of Khashoggi 3-year prison sentence for money laundering
Cairo, Jul 17 (EFE).- An Emirati court handed Asim Ghafour, the former lawyer for slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a three-year prison sentence for money laundering and tax evasion, an official source announced on Sunday.
An Abu Dhabi criminal court had already convicted the attorney, a US citizen, in absentia on two charges tax evasion and money laundering related to a tax evasion operation in the United States, the UAE state-run WAM news agency reported.
He also was fined 3 million dirhams (some $816,000) and will be deported from the Gulf country, according to the source.
The investigation against him by the Abu Dhabi Public Prosecutor’s Office was launched at the request of US authorities, who were investigating him for tax evasion and for making suspicious money transfers, WAM added.
Ghafour was arrested at the Dubai International Airport on Thursday while making a stopover on his way to Istanbul, the Democracy for the Arab World Now NGO said in a statement on Saturday.
He was the former attorney for Khashoggi, who was a critic of the Saudi regime, up until the journalist was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.
US intelligence services have held Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman responsible for Khashoggi’s killing.
EFE Ppa/ta-bp
