Man who bought Dh238,000 Aston Martin with bad cheque ordered to pay up

Emirati trader must pay full sum for luxury vehicle after being brought before court

A trader who bought a Dh238,000 Aston Martin Vantage using a bad cheque has been ordered to pay the full sum to the duped buyer after appearing in court.

A British man agreed to sell the luxury vehicle to the Emirati buyer for the agreed price last August, Al Ain Court heard.

“He handed him a cheque for Dh238,000 following which my trusting client approved registering the car in the buyer’s name,” said Awatif Mohammed from Al Rowad Advocates, representing the car’s owner.

But when he went to cash the cheque at First Gulf Bank he was informed it had bounced.

The Briton contacted the buyer, informed him that the cheque had failed to clear and made several attempts to get him to pay the amount.

He then filed a report against him after he failed to pay up for the 2013 vehicle.

“The report was first handled by the reconciliation center in Abu Dhabi which failed to convince the Emirati buyer to pay my client his money, then the report was referred to court,” said Ms Awatif.

In court, the Emirati man said that he regularly bought and sold used cars and denied issuing the cheque or handing it to the owner.

“I don’t know how he got hold of a cheque from my cheque book, but I didn’t hand it to him, I paid him in cash and I paid more than he says, I gave him Dh285,000,” said the buyer in court.

“He claims he paid my client in cash but didn’t take a receipt of the payment which is strange, because being a trader who bought and sold cars all the time, it is mandatory to keep every thing documented,” Ms Awatif told judges at Al Ain Court.

The court ordered that the defendant pay Dh238,000 to the previous owner.

He will retain ownership of the vehicle.