Dubai Court Sentences Nigerian Billionaire to Jail for Financial Crime

A Dubai court has sentenced Nigerian billionaire Abdulrahman Bashar, owner of Rahmaniya Filling Station and Ultimate Oil and Gas, to one year in jail over financial crimes.

The ruling, issued on January 30, 2025, stemmed from Bashar’s financial dealings with CI Energy Company.

Court documents revealed that he was convicted for issuing seven cheques totaling 126.45 million dirhams from an Emirates Islamic Bank account, which were flagged due to signature mismatches.

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 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.

This recent Dubai sentence marks the second time in five years that Abdulrahman Bashar has faced legal punishment abroad.

In February 2020, Justice Butcher of the England and Wales High Court sentenced Bashar to a ten-month jail term for defying multiple court orders in a case filed by Sahara Energy Resources.

Justice Butcher stated that Bashar’s sentence was based on his ongoing violations of the orders issued by Justice Robin Knowles on August 1, 2019, and Justice Bryan on September 6, 2019.

As a result, Rahmaniya was fined £500,000, while the company’s manager, Adebowale Aderemi, was ordered to pay a £10,000 penalty.

Meanwhile, Bashar and his company have not made any public statements regarding his latest jail term in Dubai.