Man used found cheques to pay rent, court says

They had been reported missing by another man in 2000, prosecutors say.

DUBAI // A man who found two cheques lost by their rightful owner in 2000 is accused of forging the cheques and presenting them to a real estate company, a court heard.

The suspect AA, a 34-year-old sales manager, denied the charge in the Court of Misdemeanours and said he did not try to use the cheques, worth Dh92,414.

Records show that a schoolteacher has lost his cheque book, which had two empty cheques remaining, in 2000. He told prosecutors that when he informed his bank, the Abu Dhabi National bank, they asked him for the cheques' serial numbers, which he did not have.

He noted that shortly after he reported the missing cheques to the bank they issued him a new chequebook, so he assumed the missing one has been cancelled.

According to court records, AA found the cheques in 2010 and forged them by adding the amount of Dh24,000 on one of the cheques and Dh68,414 on the other and presented them to a real estate company, from which he and his rented two apartments in International City in 2008.

AA said he did not know who gave the cheques to the company or who forged them.

An executive at the real estate firm said the cheques bounced when presented to the bank.

The next hearing has been scheduled for February 3 for the suspect to present his defence.

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