Dubai:
The owner of Atlas jewellery will spend three years behind bars for issuing two bounced cheques worth Dh34 million to a local bank, a court here ruled on Thursday.
M.M. Ramachandran, a 73-year-old Indian businessman, had issued the two cheques worth Dh4 million and Dh30 million to the local bank for commercial purposes.
“The accused will be jailed for three years,” said presiding judge Ahmad Shiha at the Dubai Misdemeanours Court on Thursday morning.
Ramachandran’s conviction came after he failed to settle the outstanding dues and reached an amicable settlement with the claimant.
The accused and his defence lawyers had requested several adjournments to settle the amount and provide the court with a written waiver from the bank since the case came up in court in September.
In August, the Dubai Police arrested Ramachandran, who has been in detention since then.
His request for bail was repeatedly rejected several times during his appearances in court, where he admitted he had issued the cheques.
Gulf News has learnt that Ramachandran’s lawyers were discussing an immediate appeal after the ruling was pronounced in courtroom 20.
The bank had complained against the defendant after the cheques bounced and he failed to settle the outstanding dues in August.
However, it’s worth mentioning that according to the UAE Criminal Procedures Law and Penal Law, a cheque case is automatically dropped once the signee pays the cheque amount or reaches a settlement with the beneficiary.
In the previous hearing, the defendant’s lawyer told the court that a ‘serious settlement’ was under process.
However, presiding judge Shiha said he had to hand out a ruling since the case had been adjourned three times.
A legal adviser, who introduced himself as a member of Ramachandran’s defence team, said earlier that a deal had been reached with an investor (he refrained from naming the investor) who expressed willingness to pay the outstanding amount.
According to court records, there is one bounced cheque case against the owner of Atlas Jewellery.
Even though he has been convicted, in case Ramachandran reaches any future settlement with the bank, the case will be automatically dropped once he produces a settlement or a notarised waiver in front any of the courts of appeal or cassation.
