Dubai court jails, fines two men for fraud

DUBAI: The Dubai Criminal Court sentenced two Asians to six months in jail to be followed by deportation and fined them Dhs66,000 after being convicted, along with another man who is still at large, of swindling the same amount of the fine from a fellow man, using a forged farm lease contract.

In November last year, an Asian reported to the police that his friend and others swindled Dhs66,000 from him. He stated that he wanted to rent a farm and consequently told a friend of his to help him find a farm because the latter was well connected with farm owners.

The victim stated in the interrogations that his friend told him that a farm with the required specifications was available for rent in Al Ruwayyah area in Dubai for an annual rent of Dhs80,000, adding that he agreed with his friend to rent the farm.

A few days later, his friend came with another man, who alleged to be a representative of the farm owner, the victim said, adding that the man had a lease contract signed by the farm owner in his possession. The victim said he handed the rental of Dhs80,000 over to the two men plus a commission of Dhs1,000 for his friend and in return he received the farm lease contract from them and was told that he would receive the farm after a few days.

The defendants, however, procrastinated and another mutual friend told the victim that their friend was a swindler and had seized other people’s money in the same way.

The victim said he checked with the competent authorities to find that the farm lease contract was fake and the farm owner’s name was different from that written in the lease contract.

The victim contacted his friend and told him that he had discovered the fraud, asking him to return his money or otherwise he would inform the police.

The defendant returned Dhs14,000 to him and asked for further time to return the remaining money, but he did not do so and consequently, the victim informed the police accordingly. A policeman stated in the interrogations that a team of detectives arrested the two defendants with Dhs4,000 in their possession. On interrogation, the defendants admitted that they had forged a farm lease contract and used the same to swindle Dhs80,000 from the victim in collaboration with another man.