Dubai: A manager has denied defrauding a businesswoman of Dh200,000 by luring her to sign a deal to sponsor a celebration marking Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum's accession as Dubai Crown Prince.
Prosecutors charged the 29-year-old Lebanese office manager and his 34-year-old brother, a director, of swindling and coning the 38-year-old Uzbek businesswoman by posing as Defence Ministry employees and allegedly forging documents and using them for deceptive purposes.
"I am not guilty. I didn't forge any document… the contract between us was not forged. The ministry knew about this and nothing was forged," said 29-year-old A.A. when he defended himself before the Dubai Court of First Instance yesterday.
Presiding Judge Mohammad Mohammad adjourned the case to April 25 until A.A. assigns a defence lawyer and to legally notify his brother, T.A. [who was absent yesterday].
According to the charges sheet, prosecutors accused A.A. of forging documents [bearing the Defence Ministry's stamp and logo] and handing them to T.A., who was charged with submitting them to the businesswoman, D.M. The defendants were both charged with forging the stamp and swindling the claimant of Dh200,000. They were additionally charged with posing as government employees.
"When they came to my office dressed like Emiratis, they claimed that they were ministry employees. They alleged that they were looking for sponsors for Shaikh Hamdan's accession ceremony. They claimed that my company's name will be posted on banners and that the logo will be displayed as part of an e-presentation… they also convinced me that it will be put on a VIP's table.
"We signed a deal and I paid them Dh300,000 in the form of six cheques… they breached the contract and my company's name and logo didn't appear. I also realised that they cashed four cheques," D.M. said during prosecution questioning.
The forensic laboratory said the documents were forged.
