UAE top court orders retrial in Dh870,000 fraud case

The Federal Supreme Court has ordered a retrial in a case in which four defendants were accused of attempting to defraud a man into withdrawing a previous lawsuit by misleading him over a cash payment.

Prosecutors said the defendants sought to induce the complainant to waive an earlier case by falsely leading him to believe he had been given an envelope containing Dh870,000. The man inspected the envelope before signing the waiver and confirmed the amount appeared correct, the court heard.

However, after the waiver was executed, he was allegedly handed a similar envelope containing only Dh4,000 – eight bundles of five-dirham notes. Authorities said the plan was intended to deceive him into relinquishing his legal claim, but the alleged crime was thwarted when the complainant discovered the discrepancy and revoked the waiver, Emarat Al Youm reported.

A lower court convicted two defendants of participating by agreement and assistance in the attempted seizure of the funds, sentencing each to six months in prison and referring the related civil claim to the competent civil court. Two other defendants were acquitted.

On appeal, the sentence of one defendant was reduced to a fine of Dh20,000, while the conviction of another was upheld.

The latter appealed to the Federal Supreme Court, arguing that his right to defence had been breached because the lower court failed to address his claim that a prior order had barred the criminal proceedings.

The Supreme Court agreed, ruling that courts are required to address substantive defences that could affect the outcome of a case. It found that the appeal judgment had failed to respond to a key argument raised by the defendant, amounting to insufficient reasoning and a violation of defence rights.

The court overturned the ruling and referred the case back to the Court of Appeal for reconsideration