Businessman faces court over forgery allegations

Mohammed Yaseen, Staff Reporter

The Dubai Public Prosecution referred a Gulf businessman, 67, in absentia to the criminal court on charges of forging a proxy for a plot of land and mortgaging it to obtain a loan for Dhs209 million after deceiving the landlord that he would build a hotel and take advantage of the building for 17 years.

The case dated back to a complaint filed by the landlord in which he said: “I agreed with the defendant to make use of a plot of land that I owned in Dubai for 17 years, provided that the defendant would bear the expenses of building a hotel.”

According to his testimony, the landlord delivered documents to the defendant to facilitate the necessary construction procedures based on an investment contract between them.

The defendant borrowed up to Dhs116 million from a bank for the purpose of constructing a hotel, using the proxy granted to him to facilitate banking procedures.

The victim stated that he later discovered that the hotel was still mortgaged to the bank at an amount of Dhs220 million after the loan had been rescheduled more than once in the meantime, though he did not sign any proxy for rescheduling the loan.

The victim held the bank responsible for not taking measures to protect his credit rights.

In his testimony, the director of legal affairs said the defendant submitted a proxy from the landlord to obtain a loan to build a hotel in Al Barsha, adding that he was agreed to be granted Dhs116 million.

The defendant then rescheduled the loan by increasing the amount to cover the extra costs after the landlord had signed a proxy to this effect, he said, adding that he was granted additional amounts, which totalled after being rescheduled Dhs209 million.

The director stated that all the procedures were taken with the consent of both parties and that the defendant never failed to pay the bank’s monthly dues until he escaped outside the country.