A Dubai court has sentenced Abdulrahman Bashar, the owner of Rahmaniya Group and Ultimate Oil & Gas to one year in prison for a financial crime involving his dealings with CI Energy Company, an oil and gas firm.
The ruling marks the second time in less than five years that Abdulrahman Bashar would be sentenced to jail, the first being a ten-month imprisonment declared against him by a UK court in 2020.
According to court documents seen by PREMIUM TIMES, the UAE court gave the verdict on 30 January 2025 even as Mr Bashar, 48, failed to show up for trial despite being notified.
The public prosecution in the UAE charged the businessman for 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 prosecution accused the Nigerian billionaire of issuing the cheques by “deliberately signing and drafting them in a way that prevents their cashing,” consequently asking that Mr Bashar be punished under extant laws.
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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, noted that the cheques were returned unpaid on presentation at Emirates Islamic Bank because of disparity in Mr 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 remarked that 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.
To avoid delay in justice delivery, the court chose to refer a civil case filed by the prosecution for compensation to a competent civil court since the claims require a special investigation.
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