AJMAN // An Egyptian interior designer has been sentenced in absentia to a year in jail for defrauding an Emirati woman out of nearly Dh500,000.
Ajman Misdemeanours Court told police to arrest the man so he could be brought in to serve his sentence.
Three years ago, the 39-year-old told the housewife he had good connections in his homeland.
He claimed that he could buy her a farm that made about Dh1 million in profit each year. She agreed to give him Dh462,462 to make the purchase.
In April 2013, the two met in Ajman and agreed on the amount to be invested in the property, but no contract was drawn up, she said.
“I gave him cash, around Dh300,000, in Ajman, and then I transferred the other amount through Al Ansari Exchange,” she said.
“He had offered me a job in Al Ain and the land in Egypt.”
In July 2013 the defendant called the woman from Egypt and asked her to transfer Dh18,400 to him. She then sent him Dh11,187 before making several other transfers to him, she said.
“The defendant asked the victim to transfer the amounts to his brother because he was unable to go to the bank,” her lawyer said. “It was then found that he had two passports – one Egyptian and the other Yemeni.
“That made her notice that he was playing around.
“When he came back from Egypt she called him many times to get the title deed for the land, and he started evading her.”
In May, the defendant denied the charges against him in court and said that he had a business relationship with the woman unrelated to the farm.
“I didn’t tell her that I could buy her a farm in Egypt, and I only got Dh30,000 from her in two payments through Al Ansari Exchange,” he said.
“That payment was for doing furniture work for a decorative exhibition in Al Ain, as a down payment, and I have a proof of the project, which was managed by her.
“I don’t know why she is accusing me,” he said. “She told me that she wanted to buy a farm in Egypt but I never promised her anything.”
The court disagreed with his version of events and he was sentenced to a year in jail.
roueiti@thenational.ae
