Prison for man who borrowed and sold friend’s Mercedes

A man who sold his friend’s Mercedes S500 by using forged documents has been jailed for a year.

In January 2016, the 26-yearold victim, an Emirati military officer, told prosecutors at Dubai Criminal Court that he let his friend borrow his car while he underwent eight months of military training. Upon his return in September, he found that his friend had sold his car using forged documents.

“It’s a 2015 Mercedes S500 that I bought for Dh700,000, and my friend sold it to a showroom, which then sold it to a customer,” said the officer, who reported the incident to police.

A Syrian car trader, 41, said the Emirati defendant visited his showroom in Bur Dubai and offered the vehicle for sale.

“I paid him Dh430,000 but only after he provided me with an ownership document indicating that ownership of the vehicle had been transferred from the owner to him,” the trader said. The car was then resold. According to investigations, the 33-year-old defendant asked two men, an Iranian and a man from the Comoros Islands, to forge a car ownership document for him.

The Emirati defendant was charged with embezzling the car, aiding and abetting his two accomplices to commit forgery and using forged documents. He denied all the charges in court.

The other two defendants denied charges of forgery, using forged documents and aiding and abetting the Emirati defendant to embezzle the car.

All three were convicted by Dubai Criminal Court and sentenced to a year in jail. The expatriate defendants will be deported after serving their prison terms.

The defendant asked an Iranian and a man from the Comoros Islands to forge ownership papers