Europeans, Asians held in $10 billion bank scam: report

ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi police have arrested seven men for plotting to defraud the UAE central bank of 7.2 billion euros ($10.17 billion) using false documents, the state news agency WAM said on Saturday.

It said the suspects, three Europeans and four Asians, had presented forged documents from a commercial bank in Europe purporting that the central bank of the United Arab Emirates owed the funds representing the family investments of the gang's leader.

"The documents presented by the suspects were fake and meant for attempted fraud targeting the central bank," WAM quoted Colonel Hammad al-Hammadi, director of the police's Criminal Investigation Department, as saying.

The suspects also had a power of attorney from their leader authorizing the withdrawals, the agency said.

The arrest were made in coordination with the central bank's anti-money laundering unit, he said, adding that the suspects had denied the charges of forging documents and attempted fraud.

Five of those held had arrived in the UAE, the Gulf's trade and business center, on visitor visas while the two others lived in the country, Hammadi told WAM.

WAM did not give the nationalities of the suspects, nor clarify whether any funds were actually withdrawn.

(Writing by Firouz Sedarat; Editing by Matthew Jones)