A conman tricked an unwitting investor into spending tens of thousands of dirhams on a Dubai business that didn't exist, a court heard.
The Egyptian defendant, 36, forged a trade licence for a fictitious petrol company, attributing the bogus document to Dubai's department of economic development.
He then allegedly courted the Emirati backer, 49, by offering him a share of the proceeds of the sale of the company - as long as he stumped up the money required to renew the trading license.
“I saw a post of the license online associated with an advertisement stating that the petrol company needed financing to renew it’s license so it could be sold for a very high price,” said the complainant.
He said he contacted the defendant through the online advert, with the man telling him he was one of he owners of the company and was ready to sell.
"He told me that if I paid for the company's license renewal, my share from the sale would be huge," said the victim.
Dubai Criminal Court was told that the man agreed to pay Dh370,000 to fund the license renewal.
The complainant alerted police after the defendant stopped responding to his calls after pocketing his cash.
The defendant confessed to the fraud when quizzed by police, but said he took Dh120,000 from the man.
Police found copies of a fake license on his laptop, prosecutors said.
The man was charged with forgery, used of forged documents and fraudulently obtaining Dh120,000.
He was not present in court to enter a plea.
The case was adjourned until May 28 for a verdict to be issued.
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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