Abdulrahman Bashar vows to challenge Dubai Court judgement, describes it as pressure tactics

The Founder of Rahmaniya Group, Abdulrahman Bashar has vowed to challenge a judgement given against him by a Dubai Court, describing it as a pressure tactic to threaten his reputation and business.

A Dubai court had sentenced Abdulrahman to one year in prison for an alleged financial crime involving his dealings with CE Energy Company, an oil and gas firm.

PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday exclusively reported the sentence of Mr Bashar by the Dubai Court. According to court documents seen by PREMIUM TIMES, the UAE court gave the verdict on 30 January 2025 even as Mr Bashar, 48, allegedly failed to show up for trial.

The public prosecution in the UAE charged the businessman for issuing seven cheques with a combined value of 126.45 million dirhams, drawn on an Emirates Islamic Bank account with a mismatch in his signature.

But responding to the court ruling through a statement on Monday, Mr Bashar maintained that he was innocent of the offence and vowed to take steps to overturn the court decision. The statement reads:

“The Founder of Rahmaniya Group, Abdulrahman Bashar has vowed to challenge a judgement given against him by a Dubai Court, describing it as a pressure tactic to threaten his reputation and business.

“A Dubai court had sentenced Abdulrahman to one year in prison for an alleged financial crime involving his dealings with CE Energy Company, an oil and gas firm. Abdulrahman is innocent and is taking steps to overturn the decision and is working with Global law firm HFW to achieve this.

“The UAE court gave the verdict on 30 January 2025 , which judgment was given in Abdulrahman’s absence without the opportunity to properly defend that allegations. It is expected that the Dubai Courts will overturn the judgment once Abdulrahman’s defence is considered.

“Abdulrahman said: ‘We refer to the criminal proceedings and recent judgment issued in the criminal courts against Mr Bashar on 30 January 2025. First and foremost, Mr Bashar rejects any allegations of criminality.’

“There are several ongoing civil disputes between CEE and Mr Bashar. The criminal proceedings have, in our view, been filed against Mr Bashar as a pressure tactic in the context of the Commercial Proceedings, to threaten Mr Bashar’s reputation and business.

“Mr Bashar will take all available steps available to him to challenge the judgment.”

“Abdulrahman alleged that CEE had used similar heavy handed litigation tactics in the commercial proceedings, including seeking a Worldwide Freezing Order (the WFO) from the English Court against him.

“According to him, The WFO was successfully challenged and discharged. CEE’s appeal to the Court of Appeal was also rejected. The English Court recognised the futility of CEE’s tactics.

“It is worthy of notes that Abdulrahaman is currently doing his legal business in Nigeria and not in any prison as presumed.”