Manager hoodwinked in Dh2.2m used car deal

Visitor, businessman accused of using forged registration papers to sell 43 used cars

Avisitor has been accused of conspiring with a businessman to trick a finance manager into buying 43 cars for Dh2.2 million using forged registration papers, a court heard yesterday.

In December 2016, the Jordanian manager met the 40-year-old Pakistani visitor, who worked in companies that traded in used cars, and purchased three sport utility vehicles for Dh300,000 from one of the several used car showrooms of the businessman (whose nationality was not disclosed).

While striking the deal, the visitor introduced the manager to the businessman and after a few meetings, the manager decided to buy 43 used cars for Dh2.2 million. He met the businessman to close the deal, but ran short of around Dh135,000. The businessman, however, handed him the registration papers for the 43 cars.

The manager then went to the nearest bank to withdraw the balance, but when he returned to the businessman’s office, he found both the visitor and businessman missing.

He then went to the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) to transfer the ownership of the cars to his name where he was told that the 43 registration papers were forged.

The Jordanian reported the matter to the police who apprehended the visitor. The businessman remains at large.

The visitor admitted to forging the documents when he showed up before the Dubai Court of First Instance yester. “I printed those papers, but I didn’t forge the RTA papers, or embezzle the money,” he told presiding judge Ahmad Mohammad.

The manager told prosecutors that “the deal was that the suspects would hand over to me the registration papers of all the cars and deliver the rest later”.

A ruling will be heard on February 26.