Nigerian businessman convicted, jailed in Dubai for financial crimes

A Dubai court has sentenced Nigerian billionaire Abdulrahman Bashar, owner of Rahmaniya Filling Station and Ultimate Oil and Gas, to one year in prison for committing financial crimes, as reported by local news outlets.

Bashar bagged the jail term due to financial crime involving his dealings with CI Energy Company.

According to documents, the UAE court gave the verdict on 30 January 2025.

The sentence document showed 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.

The prosecution accused the Nigerian billionaire, Bashar, of issuing the checks by “deliberately signing and drafting them in a way that prevents their cashing,” consequently asking that Mr. Bashar be punished under extant laws.

The court, relying on evidence presented to it, including statements by Jamal Awad Nasser Hussein (the agent of CI Energy), duplicates of the cheques, and statements of account, noted that the cheques were returned unpaid on presentation at Emirates Islamic Bank because of disparity in Mr. Bashar’s signature.

“It is established that the crime of issuing a cheque is realized 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.

The Dubai sentence is the second in five years as Bashar has been punished for a crime abroad.

Justice Butcher of the England and Wales High Court, in a verdict issued in February 2020, sentenced Mr. Bashar to a jail term of ten months for flouting several orders of the court in a case initiated by Sahara Energy Resources.

The basis of the sentence was that Mr. Bashir had committed continuing breaches of the order of Mr. Justice Robin Knowles of 1 August 2019 and of the order of Mr. Justice Bryan of 6 September 2019,” Justice Butcher said.

Consequently, Rahmaniya was fined £500,000, while Adebowale Aderemi, the manager of the company, was asked to pay a penalty of £10,000.