Abu Dhabi: The Abu Dhabi Criminal Court has sentenced a former board chairman at an Abu Dhabi Government-owned company, and its CEO, to 15 years in prison for money laundering.

The Court, which has jurisdiction over money laundering and tax evasion, also ordered both defendants to pay a fine and return about Dh8 billion to the companies.

In a statement, the Court said the two defendants had taken advantage of their positions, to the detriment of public funds.

In addition to the prison term and fines, the Court ordered the seizure of the money laundering proceeds and property of equal value. The defendants must also pay Dh501,000 as temporary compensation to the two companies claiming civil rights. Once the prison sentence is served, the CEO will be deported upon Court orders.

According to Court records, the two defendants were involved in money laundering, misappropriation of public funds, forgery and use of forged documents, and deliberately transferring and concealing the real nature of the funds obtained. The defendants had misappropriated of funds, with the intention of concealing their origin, location, movement and rights, and injected these funds into false investment transactions with several companies.