Cop forces man to issue Dh105k cheque

A Dubai police officer allegedly illegally arrested an Indian expatriate and forced him to issue a cheque of Dh105,000 to the favour of another man, the Dubai Criminal Court heard.
 
The value of the cheque was a down payment that the buyer is claiming after he refrained from continuing with a deal.
 
SD, 25, Saudi lieutenant, is also accused of threatening the seller with imprisonment and forcibly obtaining the cheque in favour of the buyer.
 
Indian buyer IA, 22, is accused of inciting the officer to commit the crime.
 
According to the records, the victim, SD, 39, businessman, advertised for selling his general trading company.
 
 NA, father of IA, came and checked the company and agreed to buy it for Dh335,000. On the following day, NA gave the seller Dh105,000 as down payment. The buyer and the seller agreed that the remaining amount will be paid after transferring the ownership of the company.
 
The seller checked with the real estate company managing the building of the shop and asked about formalities for changing the lease of the shop to the buyer’s name.
 
Two days later, the seller received a call from the buyer telling him that he is not interested anymore in the deal and asked for return of his money.
 
 The seller asked the buyer to give him a couple of days to arrange the amount as he had spend part of it.
 
However, on the following day, the buyer and his son IA visited the seller in the shop and asked for return of the down payment.
 
The seller asked them to give him s time till he sold the shop. The three agreed on that and the buyer and his son left.
 
However, the father and son apparently did not agree on it and the son asked a police officer to intervene to get their down payment back.
 
 “A week later, I received a call from Qusais police station and the caller was Lt. SD asked me about my whereabouts. Inquiring about the reason, the officer claimed that my car was involved in a road accident. When I told him that was not correct as my car is in my possession, he asked me to visit Qusais police station,” said the seller.
 
The seller, accompanied by his partner AK, went to the police station to meet Lt. SD. The two met Lt. SD and the latter asked partner AK to leave.
 
The officer asked the seller if he knew why he is summoned.
 
“I told him that I noticed the buyer’s car outside the police station, so the issue must be related to selling of the shop. I admitted before him that I took Dh105,000 as down payment, so the officer asked me to return the money to the complainant. I told him that I do not have the full amount right now. I agreed with them to return the full amount after selling the shop.
 
“The officer threatened to detain me if I did not pay the amount right now. When I insisted that I don’t have the full amount, the officer asked me to get out of his office and asked me to hand over my belongings before detaining me,” the victim told investigators.
 
An hour later, the officer approached the detention centre and asked the seller about his decision.
 
“I asked him to give me my mobile phone to call a friend to bring me the cheque book in order for me to issue the cheque because if I did not the officer will continue to detain me,” he said.
 
The victim issued the cheque in the presence of his partner, the buyer’s son and lawyer and other police officers.
 
“I requested them to give me a grace period but the buyer and the lawyer insisted that I should issue the cheque. The other police officer refrained from intervening in the issue and asked me to settle the issue with the complainants. I issued the cheque and handed it to them so I was released from detention,” he said.
 
On the next day, the buyer’s lawyer called the victim and asked him to pay the cheque or he will face trouble.
 
The seller went to the police station and complained that he was unjustly forced to sign a cheque.
 
The police staff at the reception asked the seller to complain at Dubai Police headquarters.
 
“I explained the issue to the Human Rights Department and so an official complaint was lodged against Lt. SD. The department promised to call me back within one week,” said the victim.
 
During the week, the seller received a call from the department and he was asked to visit Qusais police station. Being scared of detention for a second time, he expressed his fears to the caller.
 
The seller visited the police station and an officer to whom the complaint of the seller was reported, tried to solve the problem amicably by asking the buyer and his lawyer to return the cheque back to the seller.
 
Lt. SD then was referred to disciplinary council by police administration.
 
The seller assigned a lawyer who lodged a complaint with the prosecution against the officer and the buyer.
 
Dubai Prosecution found out that the officer had misused his authority by illegally detaining a man and forcing him to sign a cheque.
 
Prosecution also accused the officer of obtaining a cheque under threat of imprisonment.
 
The officer claimed that the seller issued the cheque willingly and that he tried to solve the problem between the seller and the buyer amicably.
 
The court will reconvene on November 17.

 

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