Abu Dhabi court orders man to repay Dh147,300 and pay Dh25,000 damages after embezzling a friend’s electric car investment

Abu Dhabi: The Abu Dhabi Family, Civil and Administrative Court ordered a man to return Dh147,300 to another, after he was criminally convicted of embezzling Dh150,000 that he received from him to invest in buying electric cars and reselling them outside the country. The court also ordered him to pay Dh25,000 in compensation for the material and moral damages suffered by the plaintiff as a result of his breach of the agreement and the seizure of his money. In detail, a young man filed a lawsuit against a friend of his, demanding that he pay Dh150,000, and compensate him with Dh50,000 for the material and moral damages he suffered, while taking the necessary legal measures regarding the precautionary seizure of his money and preventing him from traveling, and obligating him to pay the fees, expenses and attorney fees. The plaintiff explained that the defendant offered him an investment to buy electric cars from the UAE and resell them in another Arab country, with the aim of making profits. He handed him Dh150,000 in May 2024, but the latter did not implement the agreement, and did not provide proof of buying the cars, or return the amount despite his repeated demands. He noted that the defendant admitted to the Public Prosecution that he had received the money, and the accounting expert's report confirmed his receipt of the funds and the absence of any documents to substantiate his claim of another business partnership between the two parties or the execution of the car purchase agreement. It was also revealed that the plaintiff had recovered only Dh2,700, leaving a balance of Dh147,300 owed by the defendant. The defendant appeared and stated his willingness to pay the remaining amount, deducting any amounts already paid. For its part, the court explained in the reasoning of its ruling that, according to what is stipulated in the Law of Evidence in Civil and Commercial Transactions, the ruling issued in criminal matters has the authority to be used in the civil case before the civil courts, whenever it has made a necessary decision regarding the occurrence of the act that constitutes the common basis between the criminal and civil cases, and regarding the legal description of this act and its attribution to its perpetrator. It pointed out that it was established from the criminal case that the charge against the defendant was that he “embezzled the cash amount of Dh150,000, the amount of which was specified in the report and which belonged to the victim and was entrusted to him for use in the benefit of its owner, but he embezzled it for himself to the detriment of the victim.” He was punished for what was attributed to him, with a fine of Dh100,000, with the obligation to pay the court fees. Regarding the request to recover the amount of Dh150,000, the court indicated that the error for which the defendant was criminally convicted is the same one on which the plaintiff based his civil claim, and therefore the criminal ruling has settled the occurrence of the act and its attribution to its perpetrator. It pointed out that the documents submitted in the lawsuit, the criminal ruling, and the expert report proved that the defendant was liable for the sum of 147,000 dirhams, which fulfils the elements of civil liability, including fault, damage, and a causal relationship, which necessitates obligating him to return the sum to the plaintiff. Regarding the claim for compensation, the court indicated that the damages suffered by the plaintiff as a result of the defendant’s actions were proven, consisting of material damages that included loss of profit and seizure of his money, and moral damages that consisted of the pain, sorrow and grief he suffered, which warrants compensation for them. The court ruled that the defendant must pay the plaintiff the sum of Dh147,300, in addition to Dh25,000 as comprehensive compensation for material and moral damages, and obligated him to pay the fees and expenses, and rejected all other claims.