It’s likeley a big PR stunt. They’ll pardon him and be hailed as “good people after all” and our PM can say “look they’re nice people, people we can do trade deals with, don’t you think? Yes lovely people. See Brexit worked out just fine, look at the lovely, forgiving people we can trade with now”.
He should do the time. Act as a warning to all the gormless academics who think they can swan about the world uninterrupted.
As for the idiot writing bad cheques, Dubai would have seen that as a huge dishonour. 37 years is harsh but don’t break the law in a country like Dubai.