Dubai government employee admits vehicle ownership fraud

DUBAI // An employee at the government vehicle testing centre has confessed to forging ownership certificates of three cars to help an accomplice export them abroad.

The Dubai Criminal Court heard that E A, 23, a Yemeni who worked at the Wasel Testing Centre had in December 2012, forged the documents for a 2007 Chevrolet, 2008 Nissan and 2008 Jaguar, worth Dh92,000 in total. He transferred the ownership to his Syrian accomplice, T A, 30 and also forged three shipping letters to have the vehicles taken out the country.

E A was charged with forgery. T A was charged with aiding and abetting E A in forgery, use of forged documents and embezzlement of the cars.

M A, 39, an Emirati supervisor at the centre, said that in 2012 his department received a complaint from a vehicle owner that the ownership of his car had been transferred to someone else.

“We knew that the cars were submitted to Wasel at the Al Jidaf branch and we found out that E A was the one who worked on this issue,” said M A.

He said E A initially denied forging the certificates, saying the owner came to him with a man who wanted to buy the cars but then left him and went to pray, so E A finalised the sale papers alone with the buyer.

“He later changed his claim and confessed that he was asked by a Sudani man to finish all the paperwork, until he provided him with the owner’s approval and signature but then he did not provide him with any papers and was scared to tell,” said M A.

O M, 32, the Emirati who owned the cars, said he bought the vehicles in an auction and had contacted T A to look for possible purchasers.

“This was his work, so I asked him to help me find a buyer. Then about four months later I discovered the scam,” said O M, who added that he was then compensated by the Road and Transport Authority for his loss.

At court on Monday, T A denied all the charges.

The next hearing will be on September 2.

salamir@thenational.ae