Picture used for illustrative purpose only.

Mohammed Yaseen, Staff Reporter

The Dubai Misdemeanour Court acquitted an Arab national of forging unofficial documents and conniving to the embezzlement of a commercial ship flying the flag of an African country and valued at $1,660,000.

According to the case papers, the Public Prosecution of Dubai charged an Arab national with four charges, including forging a ship sale contract, forging unofficial documents and attributing their issuance to an African country for ship registration, submitting a forged document to register the ship in another African country under a fictitious name, and conniving to embezzling the ship delivered to him on a power of attorney.

According to the case papers, the Public Prosecution's interrogations revealed that the suspect colluded with the primary suspect in the case, who worked as a representative in a maritime navigation company.

The owner of that company allegedly instructed him to travel to an Arab country under a power of attorney to receive the ship, which flew the flag of that country after the expiration of its lease contract with an Asian company.

However, the primary suspect seized the vessel and forged unofficial documents, enabling him to sell it to another company, claiming to be the owner.

The suspect affirmed that he did not participate in the crime and that he worked as a maritime lawyer and Director of the Classification Society (MCS), accredited as a classification expert by an African country.

He added that he was known for his good personal and professional reputation and that his role was limited to conducting technical inspections of registered ships and issuing temporary or permanent classification certificates, depending on the condition, after the initial inspection and verification of the completion of the necessary papers and documents, and then issuing the MCS certificates related to the technical fitness of the tested ships.

The legal representative of the suspect, Dr Ahmed Abdul Shafei, stated that in August 2021, a person asked the suspect to perform a technical inspection of the aforementioned ship and provide him with pictures of certificates indicating the ship's registration under the flag of an African country.

Consequently, a temporary seaworthiness certificate was issued for the ship after a remote inspection via video technology due to the difficulty of conducting an on-site inspection during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Abdul Shafei confirmed that the case papers and the evidence relied upon by the Public Prosecution were devoid of any evidence to convince the court of the defendant's guilt, so he was acquitted.