Emirates Court Acquits 34 Suspects in Gambling Case

A lawyer for several of the suspects claimed that the accusations were not accompanied by evidence to show that they committed the crime.

SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates (July 28, 2023) — The Ras Al Khaimah Emirate Criminal Court of First Instance acquitted 34 Asian and African suspects between the ages of 22 and 53 of charges of  promoting online gambling.

As reported by the Gulftoday newspaper on Wednesday , up to four individuals were accused of  managing, organizing and practicing  gambling in a home, but  they denied  the charges in court, while their lawyers pleaded not guilty due to lack of evidence. . One of the witnesses stated that he saw the suspects gambling on the  Internet  inside a villa with a computer and the mobile phones that were seized, and another testified that  two tables  equipped for gambling were found in the house.

Other witnesses also claimed that the suspects operated the house for gambling, using digital currencies, such as  Bitcoin,  and through money transfers, which the player deposited into a  financial wallet  of the house manager.

The report from the  Department of Digital Evidence  in the forensic laboratory showed that the seized devices contained data and documents indicating the practice of gambling. A lawyer for several of the suspects alleged that the allegations made against the suspects were not supported by  affirmative evidence  to show that they committed the offence, and that there were  personal disputes  between one of the  witnesses  and some of the suspects, leading the court to  distrust  his statements.

The court clarified that the investigations did not identify  the identity  of the victims or the amounts collected as proceeds from the game, nor did they prove that there were  financial transfers  to their bank accounts, which made these accusations incomplete. The court also confirmed that what was indicated in the forensic laboratory report did not constitute  evidence  that the suspects  committed  the crimes, in addition to the fact that it was not possible to access the sites through which the game was practiced. In addition, the case documents did not contain any evidence to indicate that the suspects promoted  gambling.

SOURCE: elcorreo.ae