Bank forged bounced cheque, defendant says

Investor's lawyer argues that the Ras Al Khaimah institution violated its contract and cost him millions of dirhams.

DUBAI // A businessman defended himself against bounced cheque charges in court yesterday, saying the bank holding the cheque had forged an account number and violated a signed contract.

The court accepted the claim and ordered the Dubai Public Prosecution to investigate.

The case involves a Ras Al Khaimah bank, which filed a bounced cheque claim this week against the British investor WA saying he had presented a fraudulent Dh6 million cheque.

Yesterday in the Dubai Court of Misdemeanours, WA's lawyer, Dr Ali al Jarman, told the court that the disputed cheque had been forged: the bank hand wrote an account number on the back of the cheque that was an account registered by the bank without WA's permission.

According to case documents released this morning, WA signed a contract with the bank in 2006 for credit worth Dh6m, and he presented 500,000 shares of Emaar stock as collateral. The agreement, according to the defence, was based on the stock and a blank security cheque.

“Article five of the agreement states that whenever the stock's value reaches Dh14 per stock, the bank should automatically sell them to cover the facility provided and return to the client any profits earned,” Dr al Jarman told the court.

According to documents presented to court, the stocks peaked at Dh19.45 per share in April 2006.

“The bank did not take any action as per the agreement signed by both parties and was negligent in its duties,” he said.

Dr al Jarman said that the stock dipped to Dh10.90 per share at the end of the agreement period, June 29, 2006.

“The bank failed to comply with the agreement and lost my client’s money, which, under law is considered breach of trust,” he said.

Prosecutors are due to refer the case back to court after their investigations are complete, although no date has been set.