Jail term upheld for man who sold soldier's Mercedes while he was on tour of duty

Court told of how the owner of the car lent it to his friend before leaving

A man who was sentenced to a year in prison for selling his friend’s Mercedes S500 using fake documents lost an appeal for a shorter jail term.

The owner of the car — an Emirati military officer, 26 — said he lent the car to his Emirati friend, 33, in January 2016.

He was then sent by the Armed Forces for eight months of military training and, when he returned in September the same year, he discovered his car had been sold using fake documents.

“It’s a 2015 model that I bought for Dh700,000. My friend sold it to a showroom, which then sold it to a customer,” said the army officer, who reported the crime to police.

A Syrian trader, 41, said the Emirati defendant visited his car showroom in Bur Dubai and offered the vehicle for sale.

“I paid him Dh430,000, but only after he provided me with an ownership document stating that the ownership of the car had been transferred in to his name,” said the trader, who resold the car.

Investigations revealed that the Emirati accused asked two men, an Iranian and a man from the Comoros Islands, to forge the ownership documents.

They denied charges of forgery, use of forged documents and aiding and abetting the Emirati accused of stealing the car but they were found guilty and sentenced to one year in prison each to be followed by deportation.

The defendant's conviction by Dubai Criminal Court for stealing the car and, with the help of the other two men, forging documents to sell it, was upheld by court.