A court in Dubai, United Arab Emirate, has sentenced a Nigerian billionaire businessman
Abdulrahman Bashar owner of Rahmaniya Group and Ultimate Oil & Gasto to one year in prison.
Premium Times reports that the court jailed Bashar for a financial crime involving his dealings with CI Energy Company, an oil and gas firm.
It would be the second time a foreign court would jail Bashar under five years.
A UK court in 2020 jailed Bashar
ten-month imprisonment for flouting several orders in a case initiated by Sahara Energy Resources. is “punished,” not “published.”
The UAE court passed the ruling on Bashar in absentia on January 30, 2025 even as he did not show up for trial despite being informed.
The UAE public prosecutor accused Bashar of issuing seven cheques with a combined value of 126.45 million dirhams, drawn on an Emirates Islamic Bank account with a mismatch in his signature.
The prosecutor said Bashar issued the cheques by “deliberately signing and drafting them in a way that prevents their cashing,” consequently asking the court to jail the businessman under extant laws.
The court, relying on evidence presented to it, including statements by Jamal Awad Nasser Hussein (the agent of CI Energy), duplicates of the cheques and statements of account, said the cheques were returned unpaid on presentation at Emirates Islamic Bank because of disparity in Bashar’s signature.
“It is established that the crime of issuing a cheque is realised merely by giving the cheque to the beneficiary knowing that there is no balance available for withdrawal,” the court said during the proceeding led by Jugde Hussein Hamdi.
“The court sees from the examination of the documents that the incident within the scope of what it has extracted in the aforementioned manner is sufficiently established against the accused to convict him,” it added.
It said the defence attempted to question the evidences presented against it as a ploy to convince the court to disregard them, adding that the accused’s denial of the charge was intended to avert punishment.
The court referred to a civil case filed by the prosecution for compensation to a competent civil court since the claims require a special investigation.
