Acquittal of a broker from a false report to evade paying his commission
Date: May 25, 2006
The Dubai Court of First Instance acquitted the Lebanese trader “Hussein.T.Z.” while convicting the Lebanese-German national “Rashid.S.M.” and sentencing him to one year in absentia after he fled to Germany following the exposure of his false report claiming the loss of four checks drawn from a national bank.
The details date back to last October when the building materials company handed the checks to “Rashid” to deliver them to “Hussein” as payment for construction contracts worth 48 million dirhams in which “Hussein” was involved.
The defense lawyer, Nasser Hashim Al-Kamali, submitted a defense memorandum revealing the scenario that took place between “Rashid” and the company owner, “Mohammed.A.” The latter handed the checks to Rashid for delivery to Hussein as his commission. However, Rashid went on to file a police report claiming that the checks were lost. When the police approached the person responsible for cashing those checks, they arrested Hussein, who was surprised by the arrest warrant, while the checks were intended for him as payment for his brokerage services.
During the investigation, Hussein provided details of how he obtained the first check, due in May, followed by the second one in July of the same year. He mentioned that he was a resident of Qatar and had come specifically to cash the first check. When he was arrested, he mentioned that there is further evidence to prove his good intentions, including his personal presence from Qatar to cash the check. He could have assigned someone else to collect it, and he stated that he received them from “Rashid,” whom the police were ordered to arrest, but he managed to flee to Germany.
Nasser Hashim Al-Kamali, the defense lawyer, continued his defense by revealing further details of the scenario. It turned out that the complainant, the company owner, filed a report claiming the loss of the checks to hinder Hussein from obtaining his rightful commission. The defense argued that the complainant had a history of employing this method to pressurize intermediaries and deprive them of their rights. The defense considered the complainant’s report malicious.
The defense also pointed out the complainant’s record of issuing checks to people in exchange for business transactions, then claiming that the checks were lost or delivered to the beneficiary in good faith. One such incident took place in a penal case in Sharjah, where he bought an excavator from someone and issued a check for 130,000 dirhams. However, he closed the account, and then he filed a report accusing the person who received the check of breach of trust, claiming that the check was in the beneficiary’s custody in good faith. The court acquitted the beneficiaries of the check after proving the falsity of his claims. At the end of the defense, they requested the acquittal of their client.
The court ruled in favor of Hussein’s acquittal from the charges against him. Al-Kamali Law Firm continues to file a criminal complaint against the company owner, accusing him of making a false report and demanding compensation for their client in the amount of one million dirhams for the damages he suffered.
Source: http://www.albayan.ae/across-the-uae/1148139862406-2006-05-25-1.922087