Man dupes tenant of Dh77,000 after forging property papers in Dubai

A manager, who allegedly duped an expat tenant of Dh77,000 after he forged a title deed of a residential unit, has been charged with fraud and forgery at the Dubai Court of First Instance.
According to public prosecution records, the 46-year-old Arab manager defrauded the victim after he presented a forged document showing that he is the owner of a residential unit in a tower.
His communication was with an Indian real estate consultant and he was paid four cheques of which he encashed one.
The manager also faked the signature of the real owner on the tenancy contract.
The case dates back to May 2015 and was reported at Bur Dubai police station.
A 25-year-old Indian real estate consultant recounted how she was approached by the complainant's office. "It was about six months prior to the complaint. A female employee from his office was looking for a four-bedroom apartment. Later on, I spotted an advert online about the unit, subject of the present case."
The consultant later went with that employee to check the apartment and the latter liked it. "The complainant paid me four cheques, including one as a commission. The cheques were collected by the defendant who then claimed to be the owner. An Asian man was present at the time."
To her shock, the consultant came to know later that the unit does not belong to the defendant. "I discovered it when I went with another woman to the apartment. There was a sign on the door reading that the property does not belong to the person who falsely promotes himself as the owner and that there is a lawsuit in this regard," she said during investigation.
When the consultant called the Asian man, she was told that the cheques were handed over to the defendant as he is the owner of the flat. He told her that he would try to recover the cheques from the accused. "It turned out later that the title deed used by the defendant to lease the property was fake. The latter also faked the signature of the real owner on the tenancy contract he gave to us when collecting the cheques," she told the investigator.
No charges were pressed against the Asian man.
Three e-mails, which were sent from the defendant's e-mail address, containing copies of his passport, ID, the forged title deed, were attached to the case file as prosecution evidence.
The forged tenancy contract (original copy) and the authentic title deed of the unit (copy showing the real owner's name) were also enclosed to the case file.
A ruling will be announced on September 28.
mary@khaleejtimes.com 

• Dubai

Marie Nammour

mary@khaleejtimes.com