Dubai: A man was sentenced to three years in jail for embezzling Dh1.4 million and conning a businessman who had hired his services to get a trade licence issued.
The British businessman had hired his countryman’s services to help the former cancel the trade licence of his Dubai-based company and incorporate a new company in Abu Dhabi in 2013.
The businessman then wired Dh1.4 million in three payments to the man before the accused emailed a photocopy of a trade licence for the supposed new company in Abu Dhabi.
When the 47-year-old businessman visited the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development, he was notified that the emailed trade licence was forged.
Then he complained to Dubai Police.
The Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced the British accused in absentia for forging the photocopy of a trade licence, conning the businessman and embezzling his money.
According to the primary judgement, the accused, who is identified as a fugitive in records, will be deported following the completion of his jail term.
However, the defendant is entitled to a retrial as per the UAE’’s Criminal Procedures Law.
The British businessman said he agreed with the defendant to cancel his company’s trade licence and residency in Dubai and get a new licence issued from Abu Dhabi.
“I wired him money in three payments in December 2014, May 2015 and June 2015. The last payment was Dh1.2 million. However, he did not have the trade licence issued. He emailed me a photocopy of a trade licence purported to have been issued in Abu Dhabi. When I checked its authenticity at the department concerned in Abu Dhabi, they told me that it was forged,” he said.
The accused admitted to prosecutors that he collected Dh178,000 to cancel the businessman’s trade licence and his Dubai residency and incorporate a company for him in the capital.
He also said the email did not contain the forged photocopy of the trade licence but it contained the steps required to get a trade licence issued in Abu Dhabi.
