A shocked home owner returned from a trip away to find his multi-million dirham villa had been sold by a team of tricksters he hired to help decorate the property, a court heard.
The victim had enlisted the help of an Uzbek man he had known for two years to organise refurbishment work and find him another home to lease.
He agreed to appoint the man, 33, as power of attorney to allow him to complete the tasks while he was travelling in February of last year.
But the man and his accomplices, two businessmen, 33 and 54, from Russia and Saint Kitts and Nevis, instead pushed through the sale of the villa for half its market value, Dubai Criminal Court heard.
The court heard the owner had given the Uzbek defendant power of attorney over matters relating to the decoration of the home, only for him to create a forged version of the document granting him the right to execute the sale of the home, valued at between Dh17 and Dh25 million.
“Because I’m travelling constantly, I gave him a power of attorney but only allowing him to follow up on the redecoration work at the villa, not to sell it,” the owner stated in court records.
Last October, however, a friend told him he had spotted his home advertised for sale online.
The owner went to the villa, where he found the unwitting buyer making himself at home.
"He told me he bought it for half its price," said the owner.
The owner reported the matter to police, who soon discovered the Uzbek accused had fled the country.
Investigations revealed he and his accomplices had forged a new power of attorney and other documents, including the owner's passport.
They allegedly submitted the faked documentation to the land department in order to register the villa in the buyer's name.
All three men face charges of forgery and using forged documentation.
The Uzbek man's -co-accused denied the charges at court, while he remains at large.
The case was adjourned until September 23.
Conservative MPs who have publicly revealed sending letters of no confidence
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- Adam Holloway
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Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
Navdeep Suri, India's Ambassador to the UAE
There has been a longstanding need from the Indian community to have a religious premises where they can practise their beliefs. Currently there is a very, very small temple in Bur Dubai and the community has outgrown this. So this will be a major temple and open to all denominations and a place should reflect India’s diversity.
It fits so well into the UAE’s own commitment to tolerance and pluralism and coming in the year of tolerance gives it that extra dimension.
What we will see on April 20 is the foundation ceremony and we expect a pretty broad cross section of the Indian community to be present, both from the UAE and abroad. The Hindu group that is building the temple will have their holiest leader attending – and we expect very senior representation from the leadership of the UAE.
When the designs were taken to the leadership, there were two clear options. There was a New Jersey model with a rectangular structure with the temple recessed inside so it was not too visible from the outside and another was the Neasden temple in London with the spires in its classical shape. And they said: look we said we wanted a temple so it should look like a temple. So this should be a classical style temple in all its glory.
It is beautifully located - 30 minutes outside of Abu Dhabi and barely 45 minutes to Dubai so it serves the needs of both communities.
This is going to be the big temple where I expect people to come from across the country at major festivals and occasions.
It is hugely important – it will take a couple of years to complete given the scale. It is going to be remarkable and will contribute something not just to the landscape in terms of visual architecture but also to the ethos. Here will be a real representation of UAE’s pluralism.
