A man who forged his "business partner's" signature on a document to sell his share of the business will spend two years in prison.
The Emirati man – a 36-year-old policeman – had the document notarised by Dubai courts before using it to sell 25 cars belonging to the company.
The man denied the charges in court, saying he sold his share based on a legal authorization from his partner and denied selling any of the company’s cars.
"I didn't sell the cars, they were not included in the company's licence," the defendant told judges.
His Pakistani partner, 51, told prosecutors the defendant was not his partner but only the sponsor of the business, as required by the Dubai Economic Development Department (DEDD).
"I started the business in 2011 and the defendant was paid Dh9,000 per year in return for his sponsorship," said the victim, who only came to know about the incident when a friend told him he was invited to a feast hosted by the man who bought his company in 2015.
Related: Man forged partner's signature to sell company, Dubai court hears
"My friend came to visit me and told me that he was invited to a feast held by the man who bought my company, I was shocked and told him that I didn't sell my company to anyone," said the victim, who went to the DEDD where he was told that his name was removed from the license of the company and the company name was also changed.
He said 25 of the 41 cars that his company owned were sold.
"I owned Dh2.2m worth of cars and he sold 25 of them valued at Dh1.3m," he said.
The man was told that an authorisation form, signed by him, was used in the sale process.
He lodged a complaint with DEDD claiming he hadn't signed any such authentication and that the Emirati was merely a sponsor of the business.
He also filed a report with police against the notary public employee who said he had not seen the document before notarising it.
"The defendant was notarising a number of documents and he must have hidden this one among them when I notarised them," said the court employee.
In court on Wednesday, the Emirati man denied charges of forgery, using a forged document and unlawfully selling and obtaining the value of a scrap trading company.
He also denied selling 25 cars that belonged to the scrap company.
It was not clear if the company will now be returned to the Pakistani owner.
