Court upholds jail term for businessman over fraud

Ehab Atta, Staff Reporter

The Dubai Court of Appeal on Wednesday upheld a six-month jail term for an Arab businessman to be followed by deportation after being convicted by the Court of First Instance in a fraud case.

The victim testified that he was acquainted with the defendant through a fake advertisement in a newspaper promoting the activity of the project management company claimed to be owned by the defendant and offer profits of 15 per cent a month.

Based on this, the victim communicated with the company on the telephone number stated in the advertisement but could not speak with the defendant on the pretext that he was busy. Several months later, the victim was surprised by the company’s Asian secretary calling him and offering him the opportunity of investing his money in the company.

The victim agreed in principle and later held a meeting with the defendant who assured him that he was the company owner and manager and presented official certificates and papers to this effect. The victim and the defendant agreed that the victim would invest Dhs50,000 in a project to buy a warehouse and rent it for a monthly profit of 15 per cent or about Dhs7,500 per month.

The defendant asked the victim to give him the amount by a cheque in his name and not in the name of the company because he said this would be better for the victim if something unfavourable emerged where the victim would be able to file a complaint against the defendant himself and not against the company.

For several months, the victim used to get profits on a monthly basis as agreed with the defendant but later the defendant began to procrastinate and avoid giving profits to the victim.

As a result, the victim filed a complaint against the defendant to discover that the company was fake, that the documents presented by the defendant were forged and that he received fake profits that were basically out of the amount he had already paid.