DUBAI // Two men conned a businesswoman into paying them Dh2.5 million using forged Ministry of Economy documents, a court has heard.
Syrian M R, 55 and his nephew H R, 28, are facing charges of forgery, use of forged documents and fraudulently obtaining the money from her.
The two convinced Emirati H A, 58, that they owned an investment company, which they claimed had been awarded a contract by the ministry to organise the 15th GCC Joint Exhibition and promised her a big profit if she invested, Dubai Criminal Court heard on Sunday.
She said she was told about an opportunity with the two through a consultant, and met them in mid-2013.
They showed her documents to prove they had a Dh29m deal with the ministry for the exhibition, she said, which convinced her to pay them Dh2.5m in two instalments after signing a partnership agreement.
The investor said she was handed a Dh3m cheque for her share of the profits, but it bounced.
“The two apologised because the cheque bounced and gave me another cheque with the same amount, which also bounced in August 2014,” she said.
The businesswoman said she did not want to file a report with police over the dishonoured cheques because she hoped she could get her money back amicably.
But the uncle convinced her to hand him the cheques, which she did after he showed her more documents to convince her that his company had strong ties and business with the ministry
Shortly afterwards, her lawyer checked with the ministry and informed her that all the documents she had been shown were forged.
She then reported the two men to police.
In court yesterday, both men denied the charges and told the court that the documents were not forged.
The next hearing has been scheduled for September 16.
salamir@thenational.ae
