Q: We (12 persons) have invested in a Japanese restaurant (AED 100,000), each with 3 years contract. After 2 years, the owner failed to pay the shop rent for the past 6 months and the landlord had closed the shop. The owner signed a waiver to the landlord that he no longer has a claim on that shop, meaning to say, he already hands over the full restaurant to the landlord. The landlord already sold the shop to another person. 3 of the investors already have bounced cheques while mine will expire in Oct 2018, and others as well. Question 1. What is the procedure for filing a case against the previous owner since he breached our contracts? Question 2. My cheque is still not due, can I file a case against him? Question 3, Do we need to get a lawyer with regards to our case? Best regards, Lea

Q: Hi, I want to get advice on what I should do with a company based in Dubai, which is not adding me as a partner even after payment of 100% my share money. I have even paid double by investing all my salaries of 16 months. I am out of the UAE now. Please advise. Many thanks.

Q: I hold a 25% stake in a Free Zone company in Dubai, with my business partner holding a 75% share and therefore being the majority shareholder. In April 2017, there was an agreement between myself and my partner, in which he agreed to transfer all of his shares to me. Upon this agreement, we both signed and stamped a request for transfer of shares document as well as a shareholders resolution. These documents were then submitted to the Free Zone Authority but then were subsequently withdrawn without my knowledge. As far as I was aware the documents were still being processed and I only found out about the withdrawal of the documents when I followed up with the Free Zone Authority. The Free Zone Authority has since acknowledged that they should not have returned the documents and are trying to mediate between myself and my business partner to submit the documents again but he is refusing to do so. I want to know what legal action I can take against my partner for his actions.

Q: I have invested in a company, which they promise to pay me 20% return in March 2015. They paid my returns for about 2 years, though most of the times it was delayed. They stopped paying me almost a year ago and have not paid a single Dirham since then. The company seems to be a fraud because the other investors with whom I am in contact with faced the same issue and their payments are stopped for one year. I am seeking legal advice on how I can recover my money from them.

Q: Hi, I invested in a hotel business in Dubai with 7 investors including me. the cost invested by all of us was 1.05 million. One of the investors ran the restaurant full time every day, for 20 months. The guy who ran it full time cheated all of us by not paying us even a single penny in 20 months & made sure the debt goes up above AED 750K. The other 6 investors don't have any legal proof as we only invested funds. The document owner is the guy who ran the restaurant 51% & the other 49% is on friend's wife name. He hasn't paid salaries to staff, rent, vendors, vat nothing. We investors even invested additional 300k to pay rent initially, and even that he did not return us. He cheated us. Now all investors have decided to kick him out & invest more funds to clear the negative 750K. I don't want to continue with these guys anymore, so I want to quit. But they are asking me to quit with zero! I have invested AED 156500 & they are not ready to pay even one dirham. Please advise how to get at least some of my investment. Please help.

Q: We are a reputed multi-speciality hospital in Abu Dhabi. Our hospital invited bids for a yearly contract to provide medical services. We got several bids from various companies. During the evaluation process, we found that a company for Medical Supplies in Abu Dhabi does not have the proper license to practice this business or to provide these services. Their license is fake, the services not listed and this company is practising the business activities without a proper medical license. Our evaluation team requested their Chairman & Director to provide us with the business license copy, but they denied to do this. The company is playing with the life of the innocent people by committing this crime. How do we file a complaint regarding this? And also, how about filing a case against those who are working with the company?

س: سلام عليكم أنا أمتلك عدد 2 عقار في دبي وأنا مقيم في السعودية. لقد قمت بعمل توكيل من أجل تأجير العقارات واستلام الشيكات وصرفها وإيداعها في حسابي. لقد قام بإيداع المبلغ ناقصاً وتم سحب الوكالة الأصل وإلغاءها وهي موجوده لدي. ثم قام بتأجير العقار واستلام المبلغ بدون تحويله إلي والوكالة الملغاة لدي. ماهو الإجراء القانوني؟ وشكراً واصل الكنهوش 00966502730071

س: هل تتعامل مع استرداد الأموال من شركات فوركس الوهمية؟

س: السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته، قمت أنا وإخوتي بتوكيل أخي الكبير وكالة عامة لمدة ثلاث سنوات بعد وفاة أبي لتسهيل المعاملات الإدارية والبنكية للشركة. بما أننا كنّا مقيمين خارج الإمارات، وبعد إتمام دراستي ورجوعي للاستقرار بالبلد، اكتشفت أن أخي استغل الوكالة العامة واختلس أموالنا وزور ميزانيات مدة الثلاث سنوات. حالياً، جاري التدقيق بالحسابات وأود معرفة كيفية استرجاع نصيبنا الشرعي أنا وإخوتي في أرباح الشركة. شكراً

Q: Can you help, please? I live in the UK. A £125k debenture that I had with a Family Office based in Dubai was not repaid to me on the due date of 31 July 2019. After numerous broken promises to repay my capital, I eventually signed a Settlement Agreement providing repayment over 10 months commencing in January 2020. The first payment was not made on the due date and the Family Office blamed the banking system. The payment eventually arrived today, some 10 days after the due date. I am concerned that the Settlement Agreement has already been broken, and that I may experience problems with future payments. I believe that as the Settlement Agreement has been broken, I may be able to recover the full outstanding amount of £120k. Can you assist me, please?

Q: Trying to find out if a friend's paperwork is legit; we have much money invested in precious metals supposedly in the possession of Dubai customs that need to have documents verified. Have been. Need to find out if legit. I have about 2 hundred thousand invested. Should have sought out legal counsel a year ago. Will need to have a friend contact as he has all info and documents well over 1/2 million invested in this.

The provisions of this law, promulgating UAE Civil Code, govern the civil transactions in the United Arab Emirates. The commercial transactions remain subject to the laws and regulations applicable in their regard.

The law promulgates UAE Civil Procedures Code (Civil Procedure Law) which governs civil procedures in the United Arab Emirates, including the prosecution before the courts, litigation and execution.

The provisions of this Law apply to the commercial companies established in the UAE and the foreign companies that have established in the UAE a base to conduct any activity therein or established a branch or representative office. The Law abrogates Federal Law No. (8) of 1984 Concerning Commercial Companies.

The provisions of this law On Evidence in Civil and Commercial Transactions (Law of Evidence) govern evidence in civil and commercial disputes in the UAE.