Dubai refuses to hand over accused to Iran

The Dubai Court of Appeal has refused to hand over to Iran two Iranians who were accused of defrauding Bank Saderat Iran for Dh84 million.

The two bailed accused SHA, 55, director, and AMHS, are accused of forging official documents represented in certificates of origin of Dubai Chamber. They are also

accused of forging non-official documents such as commercial invoices and cargo checking certificates, and presenting these documents to Bank Saderat Iran to defraud it for an amount of Dh84,656,788.

The two are facing the same charges in the courts of their country.

According to the accusation sheet of the Dubai Courts pending case, the accused defrauded the bank by claiming a consignment to Iran of gold bullion manufactured in their Dubai-based company.

The accused submitted the forged documents for opening the necessary letter of credit and were able to get the money from the bank.

Mohammed Rida, Director of Documentation at the bank, has testified in an earlier session that three Iran-based companies opened letter of credits for buying gold from the Dubai based company with the bank’s branch there. The three companies deposited Dh105m in favour of the Dubai-based company (the seller of the gold bullion).

After checking the conformity of the documents submitted by both parties, the bank deposited Dh84m in the account of the seller company as a first installment.

Meanwhile, the bank in Iran discovered the forgery of the seller’s documents and the Dubai-based branch of the bank confirmed the forgery. So a complaint was logged with Dubai Police on February 15, 2008. The first hearing of the case was on November 17, 2009.

The three Iranian companies have filed a case in Iran on the same charges.