Dubai businessman locked up in office, forced to pay Dh200,000

Picture used for illustrative purposes alone

 Two Jordanian brothers who allegedly locked up, together with a runaway compatriot, an Iraqi man after luring him by saying they would pay back him the money they owed, were charged in court on Monday.
The three, including the two brothers (an engineer, 28, and an investor, 36) and a runaway, also allegedly beat the complainant and held him for some time in an office and forced him to sign a paper stating he had already received the due amounts from them.
The three punched and slapped the complainant and tried to strangle him with a rope until they forced him to hand over Dh150,000 in cash and Dh50,000 in cheque.
The two brothers denied in the Court of First Instance charges including false imprisonment, physical assault and damaging the complainant's car.
The incident was reported to Jebel Ali police on December 8, last year.
The complainant, a 42-year-old sales supervisor, said his company (specialising in gardening and other works) and that of the two accused (a construction company) dealt with the same contractor who had taken up a project in a luxury development in the UAE.
"I was asking them to pay Dh300,000 worth of commissions which they kept stalling to pay. I had to file a complaint against them after they handed me two dud cheques worth Dh200,000. I could only collect a cheque worth Dh50,000," he told the prosecutor.
Later, he received a phone call from the runaway accused telling him to go to the company's site. "We entered an office and I was not aware they had locked the door."
They gave him Dh150,000 in cash and Dh50,000 in cheque and told him to tear up the dud cheques, which he did.
"As I tried to leave the office, they asked me to give them back the money they had given me," he said.
They punched and dragged him with a rope they put around his neck and forced him to hand them the cash and cheque.
The hearing has been adjourned to February 16.
mary@khaleejtimes.com
 

• Dubai