Dubai: A person has been cleared of embezzling Dh1.5 million worth of gold that he was commissioned to manage upon a court order as part of a civil dispute.

Citing lack of corroborated evidence, the Dubai Court of First Instance acquitted the 57-year-old Sudanese, R.S., of breach of trust and embezzling 15.36kg of gold worth Dh1.5 million.

As part of the civil dispute between two companies that trade in gold, a civil court judge had issued an order to have the gold provisionally seized and appointed R.S. as a receiver.

A receiver is a person appointed by a court to manage a financial dispute between two litigating parties.

Presiding judge Mohammad Jamal acquitted R.S. of abusing his designation [court appointment] as a receiver, breach of trust and embezzling the gold in February 2014.

“The court has also dismissed the civil case lodged against the suspect for lack of jurisdiction. The claimant who filed the civil right lawsuit will have to pay court and lawyers’ fees as well,” said presiding judge Jamal upon delivering Sunday’s ruling.

“I did not embezzle the gold,” argued R.S. when he entered an innocent plea.

An Emirati lawyer told prosecutors that the suspect allegedly abused his appointment as a receiver and embezzled the gold that belonged to the company that had hired him.

“My clients [company that trades in gold] had a civil dispute before the Dubai Courts. In 2009, a judge of urgent matters issued an order to provisionally seize that quantity of gold. After two receivers pardoned themselves from carrying out the task, R.S. was the last to be appointed in August 2012. My clients won a court order to obtain the gold… then it was discovered that the suspect had [allegedly] embezzled the gold,” the lawyer claimed.

One of the receivers [who refused to continue the task as receiver] claimed that he managed the task for nearly two years and a half [while the civil dispute was still pending at court] before he handed over the mission to R.S.

“I needed my passport to have my residency renewed… so I obtained the court’s approval to have me replaced as a receiver. R.S. agreed to be the receiver because he needed money. He accepted the task against Dh135,000,” the witness claimed.

Sunday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.