Bad cheque dated 18,000 years in future, court told

Man and business partner were involved in dispute over multimillion-dirham order of car parts.

DUBAI // A Palestinian investor wrote a cheque dated 18,000 years in the future amid a dispute over delivery of goods, a court heard today.

The Dubai Court of Misdemeanours was told that the 32-year-old investor RT wrote 17 cheques to the 31-year-old Chinese businessman KS as installments for car parts worth Dh2.53 million. The cheques carried due dates between October 2009 and May 2010.

One cheque, however, was dated April 20010. Prosecutors said that in December 2009, RT visited KS and asked to replace eight cheques three bounced because of insufficient funds. The allegedly fraudulent cheque was among the new cheques.

RT denied the accusations during prosecution investigations and said he had purchased the parts from KS, and that Dh1.91m in goods were shipped to Jordan and Saudi Arabia. There, he said, he discovered that the parts were damaged and unfit to be used.

Records show that RT filed a complaint against KS in Sharjah accusing him of selling damaged parts, which were destroyed by Saudi authorities.

During investigations, KS denied selling bad parts from his shop in Dubai. He noted that RT declared the parts unfit himself and said he did so to dodge taxes on the goods when they entered Jordan.

He added that RT handwrote him a note and asked him to sign it. But when he had it translated, it said the goods were damaged and that all cheques should be returned.

The next hearing will be on September 5.