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 involving CI Energy Company.
According to a report by Premium Times, the UAE court delivered the verdict on January 30, 2025. The court found Bashar guilty of issuing seven cheques with a combined value of 126.45 million dirhams, drawn on an Emirates Islamic Bank account, with mismatched signatures.
Prosecutors accused Bashar of deliberately signing and drafting the checks in a manner that prevented their cashing, and sought punishment under existing laws.
The court, led by Judge Hussein Hamdi, relied on evidence including statements from Jamal Awad Nasser Hussein, the agent of CI Energy, duplicates of the cheques, and statements of account. The cheques were returned unpaid due to discrepancies in Bashar’s signature.
“The crime of issuing a cheque is established merely by giving the cheque to the beneficiary knowing that there is no balance available for withdrawal,” the court stated.
This is the second time in five years that Bashar has been punished for a crime abroad. In February 2020, the England and Wales High Court sentenced him to ten months in jail for flouting court orders in a case initiated by Sahara Energy Resources. As a result, Rahmaniya was fined £500,000, and the company’s manager, Adebowale Aderemi, was ordered to pay a penalty of £10,000.
Meanwhile, Bashar and his company have remained silent regarding the latest jail term.
