Dubai manager accused of sending ‘defamatory’ emails about associate
Businessman’s clients were contacted after a ‘sour’ diamond business deal
Dubai: A Dubai manager has been accused of causing losses worth thousands of dirhams to his business associate by sending emails to clients to damage the victim’s reputation.
The 36-year-old manager of a diamond and gold company has been accused of sending emails to the man’s clients in August 2019 in which he described him as a fraud. “He is a fraud. Beware of dealing with him. Call the police,” said one of the emails the defendant is accused of sending to a number of the man’s business associates.
According to the Dubai Court of Misdemeanours, the defendant was charged with issuing insults under the UAE’s cybercrime law, which he denied.
The dispute erupted after the pair agreed on a diamond business deal. The defendant claimed he transferred money to the claimant as part of the diamond purchase deal but the contract was never finalised. “Yes, I sent the emails after I realised he scammed me,” the defendant told the judges.
After sending the emails, one of the victim’s customers stopped doing business with him. “One of my client’s customers terminated a contract worth $354,000 (Dh1.3 million) because of the defendant’s emails,” said Emirati lawyer Awatif Mohammed representing the 41-year-old victim.
“He wrote in the emails that my client scammed him and thousands of other people of millions of dirhams,” Awatif from Al Rowaad Advocates said in the court.
The victim has filed a civil case against the defendant seeking compensation.