EXCLUSIVE: Dubai police issue arrest warrant for Nigerian billionaire jailed for financial crime

The Dubai police have issued an arrest warrant for Abdulrahman Bashar, a Nigerian oil billionaire recently convicted of financial crimes linked to the issuing of dishonoured cheques.

Court papers seen by PREMIUM TIMES indicate that the arrest warrant was issued after CE Energy DMCC, a Dubai-based commodities trading company incorporated in the UAE, made a criminal complaint against Mr Bashar following a business dispute.

Between April and August 2024, the Nigerian businessman issued nine cheques to CE Energy, payment for gas oil and Jet A1, which Mr Bashar’s company, Ultimate Oil & Gas DMCC, bought from CE Energy.

However, Mr Bashar’s bank, Emirates Islamic Bank, honoured only one of the cheques. The remaining eight were dishonoured because they bore irregular signatures. Mr Bashar has repeatedly denied that the cheques were irregularly signed. CE Energy says there is more to the matter than Mr Bashar suggests.

Issuing dud cheques constitutes a criminal offence in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). CE Energy, therefore, reported the dishonoured cheques to the Dubai police, which immediately launched an investigation and a search for the Nigerian businessman.

“An arrest warrant has been issued against Mr Bashar in the UAE,” Justice Charles Hollander of the High Court of Justice, King’s Bench Division, London, said on 8th November 2024, while ruling on applications relating to a worldwide freezing order (WFO) granted ex parte on 29 July 2024 against the Nigerian billionaire and in favour of CE Energy.

It does appear Mr Bashar kept away from the UAE and remained in Nigeria while police investigation and his eventual court trial lasted in Dubai. On 30 January 2025, he was sentenced to one year imprisonment.

“The arrest warrant against him (Abdulrahman Bashar) remains valid,” a source familiar with the matter told PREMIUM TIMES. “He remains a fugitive, and he has a pending jail term unless he successfully appeals the judgment.”

In a statement on Monday, Mr Bashar said he would take all available steps to challenge the judgment.

Abdulrahman Bashar, 48, is chair of Ultimate Oil and Gas DMCC and managing director and chief executive officer of Rahamaniyya Group of Companies, Nigeria. His companies trade, supply, and distribute African crude and oil products, from which the billionaire has amassed a huge fortune.