Breaking: Nigerian billionaire businessman jailed in Dubai

Abdulrahman Bashar, the owner of Rahmaniya Group and Ultimate Oil & Gas, was given a one-year prison sentence by a Dubai court for a financial felony concerning his transactions with the oil and gas company CI Energy Company.

The decision is the second jail sentence Abdulrahman Bashar has received in less than five years; the first being a ten-month sentence imposed on him by a UK court in 2020.

The UAE court rendered the decision on January 30, 2025, according to court records viewed by DOROTV, despite the fact that Mr. Bashar, 48, was informed but did not appear for the trial.

The businessman was prosecuted by the UAE's public prosecution for issuing seven checks totaling 126.45 million dirhams, drawn on an Emirates Islamic Bank account, and having a mismatched signature.

The prosecution demanded that Mr. Bashar be punished in accordance with current rules after accusing the Nigerian billionaire of issuing the checks by "deliberately signing and drafting them in a way that prevents their cashing."

Based on the evidence that was presented to it, including statements made by CI Energy's agent Jamal Awad Nasser Hussein, copies of the checks, and statements of account, the court concluded that the checks were returned unpaid upon presentation at Emirates Islamic Bank due to a discrepancy in Mr. Bashar's signature.

During the Jugde Hussein Hamdi-led hearing, the court declared, "It is established that the crime of issuing a check is realized simply by giving the check to the beneficiary knowing that there is no balance available for withdrawal."

"The incident within the scope of what it has extracted in the aforementioned manner is sufficiently established against the accused to convict him," the court concluded after reviewing the records.

It stated that the accused's denial of the accusation was meant to avoid punishment and that the defense tried to cast doubt on the evidence against it in an effort to persuade the court to ignore it.

The prosecution filed a civil lawsuit for compensation, but the court decided to send it to a competent civil court since the claims need a particular investigation in order to prevent a delay in the delivery of justice.

Being "punished," not "published," after Justice Butcher of the England and Wales High Court sentenced Mr. Bashar to ten months in prison for disobeying multiple court orders in a lawsuit brought by Sahara Energy Resources in February 2020. (The link is here.)

The punishment was based on the fact that Mr. Bashir had repeatedly violated the orders of Mr. Justice Bryan of September 6, 2019, and Mr. Justice Robin Knowles of August 1, 2019, according to Justice Butcher.

According to the instructions, Rahmaniya Oil and Gas had to comply with Sahara Energy Resources' or its agent's request for 6,400.49 metric tonnes of gas.

According to court documents that DOROTV was able to collect, Abdulrahman Bashar instead failed to "permit or procure Rahmaniya Oil and Gas Limited or its servants or agents to allow the release of the said gas oil from the terminal."

The court gave him a legally enforceable warning that if he followed the earlier court order, which he violated, the sentence could be reduced to six months.

Rahmaniya received a £500,000 fine, while the company's manager, Adebowale Aderemi, was had to pay a £10k fine.

 

Abdulrahman Bashar is the chair of the Ultimate Oil and Gas DMCC, according to information on his company website. Additionally, he serves as the chief executive officer and managing director of the Rahamaniyya Group of Companies in Nigeria. The millionaire has accumulated a substantial fortune through his enterprises' trading, supplying, and distributing of African crude and oil products.

According to his company website profile, "Alhaji (Abdulrahman Bashar) now directs a diversified conglomerate consisting of business outfits operating in various sectors of the economy across Africa, Europe, South Asia, and the Middle East: making the most of his vast experience in oil and gas exploration, marketing, distribution of petroleum products, and haulage."