Dubai Court Imprisons Nigerian billionaire Over Financial Crime

A Nigerian billionaire, Abdulrahman Bashar, who owns Rahmaniya Filling Station, Ultimate Oil and Gas, has been sentenced to one year in prison by a Dubai court for financial fraud.

Bashar was sentenced to prison for financial crimes related to his transactions with CI Energy Company.

Documents state that on January 30, 2025, the UAE court rendered its decision. The businessman was accused by the UAE for issuing seven checks totaling 126.45 million dirhams, drawn on an Emirates Islamic Bank account, and having a mismatched signature, according to the sentencing document.

The prosecution demanded that Mr. Bashar be punished in accordance with current legislation after accusing the Nigerian millionaire, Bashar, of issuing the checks by “deliberately signing and drafting them in a way that prevents their cashing.”

The court noted that the checks were returned unpaid upon presentation at Emirates Islamic Bank due to a discrepancy in Mr. Bashar’s signature, based on evidence that was presented to it, including statements made by CI Energy’s agent, Jamal Awad Nasser Hussein, duplicate copies of the checks, and statements of account.

“It is established that the crime of issuing a cheque is realised merely by giving the cheque to the beneficiary knowing that there is no balance available for withdrawal,” the court said during the proceeding led by Judge Hussein Hamdi.

Unfortunately, Bashar has received punishment for a crime overseas for the second time in five years with the Dubai sentence. The England and Wales High Court’s Justice Butcher had once sentenced Mr. Bashar to ten months in prison in February 2020 for disobeying multiple court orders in a case brought by Sahara Energy Resources.

The penalty was based on Mr. Bashir’s repeated violations of Mr. Justice Robin Knowles’s order from August 1, 2019, and Mr. Justice Bryan’s order from September 6, 2019, according to Justice Butcher.

Rahmaniya was consequently fined £500,000, and the company’s manager, Adebowale Aderemi, was had to pay a penalty of £10,000. Bashar and his business, however, have not commented on the most recent jail sentence.