Man gets suspended jail term for swindling Dh530,000 in Dubai

Dubai - Prosecutors accused the businessman of obtaining four electronic print outs of Ejari certificates, which are all fake.

A businessman, accused of embezzling Dh530,000 from an enterprise in forged leasing contracts of a warehouse, has been given a suspended jail term by a Dubai court.
According to public prosecution records, the 61-year-old Emirati man, who owns a realty firm, used forged tenancy contracts and also an invalid power of attorney he claimed he had been given to him by the real owner of the warehouse, also an Emirati.
The case dates back to 2013 but a complaint was lodged at Bur Dubai police station in 2018.
Prosecutors accused the businessman of obtaining four electronic print outs of Ejari certificates, which are all fake, as the original tenancy contracts were forged.
He then sent one of his staff to hand over the documents to the commercial enterprise to lease the warehouse to them in Al Quoz.
He instructed his employee, who was unaware of the forgery, to use a power of attorney given by the real owner of the property.
The businessman was charged at the Court of First Instance with fraud and embezzlement, aiding and abetting in the forgery of electronic documents and forgery of unofficial documents.
The court sentenced him to a suspended three-month jail term on the forgery charges. It cleared him of a fraud charge.
The court ordered that all the disputed documents be confiscated.
The 62-year-old Emirati complainant, a retired man, said he had given an old power of attorney to the defendant to use the land (where the warehouse was built) and invest it as he wanted. "I cancelled it in October 2006 and he was notified by a Dubai Courts bailiff.  I had an earlier agreement with the accused to register it in his name, which did not happen. It was still in my name and I was worried he might misuse it and I would then be held legally accountable for any bounced cheques, fines or any other bad business commitments."
The complainant told the prosecutor how he learned later that the defendant had leased the land and signed many contracts in his name. "Since all the contracts were in my name, it makes me liable before the tenant and causes me lots of damage."
An Indian female manager at the enterprise said they leased the warehouse in Al Quoz industrial area in 2013. "We used to meet with one of the defendant's employees. I never met the complainant. They used a power of attorney in his name to renew and sign all the contracts till 2018."
The first annual leasing contract was signed on November 17, 2013 and worth Dh100,000. Almost a year later, he renewed the contract with the same value. On October 20, 2015, he signed another contract worth Dh110,000, which he renewed one year later. On September 25, 2017, he renewed the contract, valued at Dh110,000.
The court ruling has not yet been appealed.
mary@khaleejtimes.com