Owner in dark as gang sells Palm Jumeirah plots for Dh27m

Agroup of nine people went on trial at the Dubai Court of First Instance after they were accused of forging official documents to sell two properties on Palm Jumeirah for Dh27 million.

According to official records, the incident happened in June 2018 when a 39-year-old Azerbaijani man and a 28-year-old woman from Turkmenistan, with assistance from other defendants, forged documents of the developer and deceived an Indian businessman into buying two plots for Dh27 million. The plots belonged to an Iranian woman.

Forging signature

The female defendant admitted that she posed as the Iranian woman and other defendants taught her to forge the victim’s signature. She wore an Abaya and Niqab and went to a property office in Bur Dubai where she met the buyer and signed on copies of the cheques.

The 48-year-old Indian man who was deceived testified that he was looking to buy properties on the Palm when he met the defendants to buy the land for Dh27 million.

“They brought a contract with signature of the owner but I insisted on seeing her and making the payment in cheques. They told me she is sick and cannot come. Later, they told me that she is in the parking lot and can’t come up to the office. I went down to her car and saw her wearing the Neqab. I couldn’t ask her to take it off,” the Indian man said in records.

Name not on list

He said he gave her a copy of the cheques and she signed on them with the same signature as in her passport.

“I went later to see the plots when the security guard told me that my name was not on the owners’ list. I discovered later that the woman who sold the plots wasn’t the original owner.”