UAE: Man ordered to pay Dh3.3 million after defrauding illiterate woman

The defendant sold off the victim's home, but did not hand over the money

Ismail Sebugwaawo

Published: Wed 2 Mar 2022, 8:38 AM

A real estate agent, who took advantage of an illiterate woman to sell her villa and take all the cash has been instructed to pay the woman Dh3.3 million.

The Abu Dhabi Court for Family and Civil Administrative Claims issued the ruling after finding the defendant guilty of illegally selling the woman’s villa and defrauding her.

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The man had sold off the GCC woman’s villa located in Abu Dhabi after obtaining powers of attorney from her through deception. However, he did not hand over the cash from the sale of the house to the woman.

Official court documents stated that the woman had filed a lawsuit against the real estate dealer demanding that he pay her Dh5 million and a 12 per cent interest for illegally selling off her villa and not paying her the money.

The woman said in her lawsuit that the man took advantage of her being illiterate to obtain powers of attorney from her to take care of the villa.

She said the man had deceived her by saying he was working in a job that would enable him to finance the demolition of her old villa and the construction of a new one so she could get better returns. Instead, the man sold off the villa and took the cash.

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The plaintiff explained that after waiting for a long time, she later found out that the man had obtained Dh3 million from the sale of her villa, but never handed the money to her. She then decided to take him to court. The woman said she suffered moral and psychological damages as a result of being deceived by the defendant.

The Abu Dhabi criminal court had earlier fined the man Dh150,000 after he was found guilty of defrauding the woman and misappropriating her cash.

The judge then told the woman to file a civil lawsuit against the defendant to demand her claims and be compensated.

After hearing from all parties and witnesses, the civil court judge issued a ruling obligating the defendant to pay the plaintiff Dh3 million he got from selling the property and the delayed interest at the rate of 4 per cent from the date of the claim until full payment. The man was also ordered to pay Dh300,000 to the woman in compensation for the material and moral damages.

The judge said in his ruling that the defendant was dishonest and had betrayed the woman’s trust.

ismail@khaleejtimes.com