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Dubai: A court has reduced the punishment of a gem dealer who conned the public and tried to sell an onyx stone for Dh1.8 billion claiming it is bulletproof.
The Dubai Court of Appeal reduced the initial verdict, six months in jail, of the Yemeni precious stone dealer, Q.M., to three months. However, the appeal's judge upheld the deportation order which was handed by the Dubai Court of First Instance earlier this year.
"We will appeal yesterday's verdict before the Cassation Court... I am seeking my client's innocence and not a reduced term. My client has pleaded not guilty since the beginning," Q.M.'s lawyer Saeed Al Ghailani, of Saeed Al Ghailani Advocates and Legal Consultants, told Gulf News on Monday.
The court reduced the initial verdict yesterday after several government bodies failed to confirm the Yemeni's claims because they lacked proper scientific methods or equipment to test whether the onyx stone was bulletproof or to decide its real value.
Al Ghailani earlier asked the Appeal Court to assign an expert to examine the stone and assess its value to decide whether it contained any special characteristics which made it bulletproof. Dubai Police, Dubai Municipality and Dubai Metals and Commodities Centre did not have the necessary equipment to carry out the mission.
The Public Prosecution charged Q.M., with trying to con people by placing a newspaper advertisement in which he promoted the bulletproof onyx stone for Dh1.8 billion.
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