DUBAI // A 53-year-old businessman has appeared in court accused of defrauding a company out of €1.1 million (Dh4.4m).
The Dubai Criminal Court heard that on April 22 this year and before this date AA, from Sudan, forged a number of documents including a shipping letter and a company’s certificate of origin in which he detailed he was selling four machines to a company in Sudan, when in fact, he only had one to sell. Court records did not state what type of machine.
Prosecutors told the court that AA sent the forged documents to the company in Sudan, which made its managers believe they were buying a number of machines. They then transferred €1.1 million to AA’s bank account in Dubai.
Court documents initially stated that the amount was 1.1m in UAE dirhams but the prosecutor corrected the amount to euros, informing the court it was a printing error.
A partner at the Sudanese company, identified as FA, testified that his firm was seeking to purchase machinery from Germany when the defendant claimed he owned a company in Dubai that imports these machines then resells them.
“We could not import them directly because German companies refuse to make deals with Sudanese ones, therefore we had to do it through a middle company,” said FA.
When AA submitted the required documents, he was paid the entire amount but only shipped one machine in 2013 to Sudan. The remaining three were never sent.
AA insisted the documents he submitted were not fake. He denied charges of forgery and fraudulently obtaining the money.
The next hearing will be on November 16.
salamir@thenational.ae
