Papers forged to cheat partner of Dh200,000

The Dubai Court of Appeals has upheld the verdict of the Lower Court of sentencing a man from Afghanistan to two years in prison after he was found guilty of cheating  his business partner of Dh200,000, the Arabic daily newspaper ‘Emarat Al Youm’ has reported.

According to the court, the accused took the advantage of the absence of his partner and got some telephone SIMs of Etisalat issued in the name of the company and was selling telephone calls to people while his partner was on vacation.

The case started when the plaintiff discovered a bug in the fax machine of the company.  When he asked Etisalat to fix the problem in the fax machine, he was informed that the service was disconnected and that that he has to pay Dh195, 241.

The shocked plaintiff said he the total invoice came to Dh4000 per month, though actual usage was only about Dh800.

He added Etisalat had informed him that he had applied for the issuance of some telephone lines in the name of his company which increased the number of calls, raising the bills.

When he told them that he had not applied, Etisalat provided him applications on the company’s letterhead but he noted that the signature and company’s stamp did not match his signature which led him to inform the police and file a case.

Police investigations revealed that an unemployed person was behind the crime.

The police arrested the person but he was released after he provided the police with  documents.

The suspect said he too was a victim. He was looking for a job and he found an advertisement for a sales job in a newspaper. He said when he phoned the number in the ad,  a person answered, claiming to be a businessman, and told him that his work would be limited to paying telephone bills.

He added the person contacted him two days later and delivered some papers, and requested him to take out three mobile lines.

“I went to Etisalat and applied to the customer service agent, but the applications were rejected for want of passport of the manager of the company.

“I phoned the businessman and told him, so he asked me to go to another branch, where I was able to take out three lines.

“After a few days, the businessman told me to go to an Etisalat office in one of the commercial centers to take out more telephone lines but the employee in the centre rejected the requests and informed me that Etisalat had informed the police and filed a case against the company,” he added.

He added that from the beginning he had doubted the businessman and so keep all the documents which he  had given him. He tried to call him the next day but his phone was switched off.

When police arrested him and he showed them the documents, he was released.

Police arrested the Afghan businessman and referred the case to the prosecution.

The Court of First Instance sentenced him to two years in prison.

The accused appealed the verdict but the Court of Appeal upheld the verdict of the lower court.


 

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