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Man cleared of using a forged cheque

Abu Dhabi - The man gave out the cheque to the real estate office in the UAE, when he was renting an apartment

A man who was convicted of issuing a forged cheque to a real estate firm for renting a house has been acquitted on appeal.
The Federal Supreme Court in Abu Dhabi cancelled earlier rulings by lower courts, which sentenced the Arab man to two months in jail, and ordered for his deportation after he was found guilty of forging a cheque.
The court documents stated that the man gave out the cheque to the real estate office in the UAE, when he was renting an apartment.
The real estate agents later found out that the cheque was a forged one after the bank official said the defendant didn't have an account in the bank.
Prosecutors had charged the man and a colleague with forgery and use of forged documents.
The Arab man, however, denied the charges, stressing that his friend had given him the cheque to give it to the real estate agents as a security for renting him a house. His friend denied the charges too.
The Criminal Court of First Instance had cleared the second defendant and convicted the Arab man of forgery and issuing a forged document to the real estate firm. The man challenged the sentence at the appeal court which rejected his appeal and maintained the first ruling. He then went to UAE's top court stressing that he was wrongly convicted.
The man said his friend who was cleared by the first court had given him the cheque, which he only handed to the real estate firm to use as security, and that he had no idea it was a forged one. He also presented two witnesses to confirm his defence.
After hearing his defence, the court cancelled rulings by lower courts stressing that the man had consistently denied the charges throughout his trials and that he also presented two witnesses but the appeal court didn't consider their statements when issuing the ruling as it might have helped in establishing the truth in the man's defence.
ismail@khaleejtimes.com