Businessman, 82, accused of forgery for omitting partner’s name on document

Emirati is accused of trying to deceive authorities and make them believe he was the sole owner of premises.

DUBAI // An 82-year-old man is accused of forging a business licence by omitting his partner’s name, Dubai Criminal Court was told.

Prosecutors said the Emirati businessman, on June 15 last year and before then, forged a copy of a licence issued by Dubai’s Department of Economic Development by changing the status from a limited liability company to an individual company and removing his partner’s name from the document before submitting it to Dubai Municipality.

The 47-year-old Emirati partner told prosecutors he owned 25 per cent of a printing house in Al Garhoud and he also owned 25 per cent of all the real estate units and land plots that were granted by the government to the printing house.

“I became partner in 2005 but I found about the forgery about two years ago,” said the partner, adding that the defendant allegedly forged the document in at attempt to evict him from a unit owned by both of them by convincing the municipality that he was only a tenant, not an owner.

“He wanted to get met out of it by force and submitted the licence copy he had to Dewa to have them cut off power and water,” said the man.

The defendant denied charges of forgery and use of forged document in court on Sunday.

The next hearing is on May 10.