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Car salesman at large after pocketing Dh1. 5 million

A sales supervisor, 42, allegedly embezzled more than Dh1.5 million from customers of the car showroom he worked for before fleeing, a court heard on Sunday.

The defendant, a Jordanian national, was charged with embezzlement in the Court of First Instance. According to prosecution records, the defendant received deposits from customers of the showroom in Al Garhoud in July last year to book for expensive sports cars. Instead of putting the amounts in the company’s account he misappropriated them.

He is still at large. A customer relations manager at the showroom, a Jordanian, told the prosecutor that the defendant was given his passport in July last year upon his request on the pretext of going to his country to attend his father’s funeral.

In August last year while the defendant was still away, many customers reverted to the showroom claiming they had paid deposits and advance payments to book expensive cars.

They wanted to continue the purchase procedures and take the cars.

When checking their records, the manager added, they found that, indeed, there were bookings on cars as the customers claimed. But the defendant had not accounted the received amounts in the company’s revenues account.The company soon realised that the accused had cooked up the story of his father’s funeral to flee the country with the embezzled money.

Several attempts to reach him failed as his mobile phone was constantly switched off.

The manager filed an official complaint at the Rashidiya police station. He claimed the money embezzled by the defendant totalled Dh1.7 million.

An Egyptian customer said in the investigation that he paid the defendant Dh220,000 while he was in the sales section of the showroom. The customer was to pay the remaining amount once he received the 2011-model sports car.

Only when he went to the showroom for the final purchase did he know that the defendant had fled with the money. Five other customers had similar stories to tell.

The defendant always gave the customers the list of car prices and receipts for the sums he had received from the customer.

A Lebanese manager at the showroom, however, told the prosecutor that the defendant was only authorised to strike the purchase deals with the customers.

He was not supposed to collect money from customers. All payments, including for booking, had to be made only at the accountant’s counter who would then issue receipts.

The defendant was not authorised to issue receipts for payments by customers.

He added that the documents the defendant handed to the customers could not be considered as payment receipts.

mary@khaleejtimes.com