AJMAN // An Egyptian interior designer stands accused of defrauding an Emirati woman and embezzling more than Dh400,000 of her money, Ajman Misdemeanour Court heard.
The 39-year-old told the housewife that he has good connections in his homeland and he could buy her a farm that makes profits of about Dh1 million each year, she alleges. She said she then agreed to hand him Dh462,462.
They met in Ajman in April 2013 and agreed on the money to be invested but no contract was made, she said.
“I gave him cash, around Dh300,000, in Ajman, and then I transferred the other amount through Al Ansari Exchange. He had offered me a job in Al Ain and the land in Egypt,” she said. “There are no contracts and business investment in Al Ain between us.”
The defendant, in July 2013, called the woman from Egypt and asked her to transfer him Dh18,400. She sent him Dh11,187 before making several other transfers to him, she alleges.
“The defendants asked the victim to transfer the amounts to his brother because he can’t go to the bank, and then it was found that he has two passports - one of them Egyptian and the other is Yemeni,” her lawyer said.
“That made her notice that he is playing around. When he came back from Egypt, she called him many times to get the title deeds of the land, and he started evading her.”
The defendant denied the charges against him and said that he has a business relationship with the woman unrelated to the farm.
“I didn’t tell her that I can buy her a farm in Egypt, and I only got from her Dh30,000 in two payments through Al Ansari Exchange and that payment was for doing furniture works for a decorative exhibition in Al Ain, as a down-payment, and I have a proof of the project, which was managed by her,” he said.
“I don’t know why she is accusing me but she told me that she wants to buy a farm in Egypt but I did never promise her anything.”
The next hearing is on May 15.
roueiti@thenational.ae
