Dubai: A businessman stands accused of forging a licence for a non-existing company and using it to deceive an Emirati investor, the Dubai Court of First Instance heard on Tuesday.
The 49-year-old Emirati victim said that he saw a post online stating that a petrol services company was looking for financing to renew its licence in order to sell at a higher price.
“There was a contact number in the advertisement, so I called the defendant who said that he was the owner of the company and that he needed someone to help him to renew the licence so that he could sell the company for a very high price. I would have had a big share of the sale,” the victim said.
The 36-year-old Egyptian defendant sent a forged trade licence of the fake petrol company via WhatsApp in November of last year attributing the certificate to Dubai’s Department of Economic Development.
The two agreed that the victim would pay Dh370,000 and the victim took a receipt.
The victim said that the accused stopped answering his calls afterwards and disappeared.
“I went to Al Barsha police station to report the incident,” said the victim.
The defendant confessed to fraud but said he only took Dh120,000.
The defendant was charged with forgery, using forged documents and fraudulently obtaining Dh120,000 from the victim.
A verdict will be issued on May 28.
