4WD ‘buyers’ charged with fraud, forgery

dubai — Two men have been charged in court for submitting a forged cheque and a forged trade license copy of a company to take possession of a 2013-model 4WD. They have been charged with fraud, forgery and use of forged documents in the Court of First Instance.

The two defendants, a 39-yearold PRO and his 38-year-old Emirati accomplice, at large, allegedly met the car’s owner at the Licensing Department in Al Qusais where they gave the forged cheque and accordingly the latter handed over the vehicle to them. They then got the vehicle towed to Sharjah.

The car owner, a 30-year-old Egyptian accountant, said during the public prosecution investigation that one of the defendants phoned him after he put an ad online to sell his car.

“The person, who contacted me, claimed that the car’s price (Dh136,000) was more than what the company — where he worked — could afford. He negotiated with me to bring it down to Dh125,000.”

The defendants met the complainant at the Licensing Department on November 24, last year. “They said they wanted to register the car under the name of a Bangladeshi man. They showed a business licence copy in the latter’s name and his passport.”

The car’s owner was given a Dh130,000 cheque to be withdrawn from the account of a construction material trading company. He went the next day to the bank to collect the cheque but learnt that the company’s account had been closed.

The car owner contacted the two men and they told him that they would give the car back and take the cheque back from him. But that never happened. The car owner lodged a complaint against the duo and learnt later that the company, where one of them alleged he worked, was shut.

A police lieutenant said that they searched the Egyptian defendant’s home and found cheque books and a Bangladeshi passport, which was used ‘to buy’ the car. The accused claimed the latter used to work for him and later absconded leaving his passport behind. The hearing has been adjourned to June 22.