Dubai: A man has been sentenced to two years in jail for selling his ex-fiancee’s car using forged papers after he claimed to her that he took it to the garage for maintenance.

The Emirati man, S.A., visited his 22-year-old countrywoman [when she was still his fiancee] at her workplace and claimed that he wanted to take her car to the garage.

A few days later, she discovered that he had sold it using forged documents in January 2015.

The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted S.A. of embezzling the sport utility vehicle [SUV] worth Dh433,000 that was handed to him on the basis of trust.

The defendant had pleaded not guilty and refuted his fiancee’s claims that he embezzled the car and sold it illegally.

“The forged papers will be confiscated. The claimant’s civil lawsuit will be referred to the Dubai Civil Court,” said presiding judge Urfan Omar on Thursday.

The defendant had forged a sales contract, the SUV’s registration papers and export certificate. Then he used those forged papers and presented them to an official at the Roads and Transport Authority [RTA].

The woman testified that her ex-fiance visited her at work to take the car to the garage, as he was aware that it required maintenance following an accident.

“S.A. rented another vehicle for me to use in the meantime. I had purchased the SUV as a gift for my mother and registered it in her name. Two days later my co-worker told me that the SUV was not taken to the garage. When I checked with S.A., he said he was waiting for a payment from his client to take the car to the garage. Four days later, he told me that the car was still under maintenance and that it had taken a longer period than expected because some spare parts had to be brought from abroad. Ten days passed and nothing happened. My co-worker checked the RTA’s system and discovered that the SUV was not registered in my mother’s name anymore. The car had been registered in another woman’s name … when I contacted S.A., he denied having taken the SUV from me. Thereafter we realised that S.A. had duped us and sold the car to A.G. using forged papers,” testified the woman.

A Jordanian businessman, A.G., was earlier jailed for one year for buying the car although he knew the papers had been forged.

Thursday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.