A Dubai court has sentenced AbdulRahman Bashar, owner of Rahamaniyya Group and Ultimate Oil & Gas, to one year in prison for financial fraud involving a compny, CI Energy Company.
Court documents reveal that on January 30, 2025, Bashar, 48, was convicted for issuing seven dishonored cheques worth 126.45 million dirhams ($34.4 million) to CI Energy Company, drawn from an Emirates Islamic Bank account, were returned unpaid due to signature discrepancies. Prosecutors accused him of deliberately issuing the cheques in a manner that prevented cashing.
Bashar did not appear for the trial despite being notified. This is his second jail sentence in five years; he was previously imprisoned for ten months in the UK in 2020 for breaching court orders in a case involving Sahara Energy Resources. His company, Rahamaniyya Oil & Gas, was also fined £500,000 in the case.
The Dubai court dismissed Bashar’s defense’s attempts to challenge the evidence, stating that the crime was established by the act of issuing cheques with insufficient funds. A separate civil case for compensation has been referred to a civil court.
Bashar chairs Ultimate Oil and Gas DMCC, and leads Rahamaniyya Group, a conglomerate with operations in oil trading, distribution, and other sectors across Africa, Europe, and the Middle-East.
