Saturday 16 / November / 2024
Muscat: Two Omani businessmen allegedly duped by an Indian in Saham said they expect to have lost more money than they had estimated initially.
Ahmed Al Fasari and Ibrahim Al Fasari told the Times of Oman (TOO) that day-by-day the amount lost has been increasing and it may now have crossed OMR200,000 as fresh claims of duping mount.
“We are getting new claims. More bounced (cheques) are coming to us. We don’t know what can be done. We trusted him. He has ruined us. Both of us are under pressure. Answering calls and explaining in detail what has happened itself is tiring us,” the businessmen said.
RV, an Indian company official, is missing since May 26, after defrauding the Omani traders of OMR200,000 in Saham.
“He was trading building materials and electrical equipment. He bought goods on credit by producing company cheques and his personal cheques. He was reportedly selling them at a lower price and had collected money,” the businessmen said.
“All of a sudden, he disappeared on the pretext that he was going to the airport to see off his brother-in-law, who was travelling to India,” the businessmen added.
Clearing the debt
According to Sajil Kumar, a senior official at the same company, the onus of clearing the debt has fallen on him.
“I introduced RV to the sponsors. We trusted him. I even gave him thousands of rials on credit to run the business. I even bought him a new car for his business needs. That car is also missing. It seems he had plans to run away,” Kumar said.
Big amount
“OMR200,000 is a big amount for us. Now, I am stuck. I cannot do the same to Omani businesses as RV did. I trusted him, but...,” Kumar trailed off while attending to calls from customers and other company officials, who were demanding that their debt be cleared.
“RV has defaulted on payments of OMR31,000 and OMR20,000 at two big companies in Muscat. Moreover, the banks are calling us in relation to cheque bouncing cases,” Kumar added.
The company has filed a case with the Royal Oman Police (ROP) and has also lodged a complaint with the Indian Embassy to track down RV.
Interpol
“ROP officials are probing the case. If they find that RV has left Oman, then we will approach the Interpol. Meanwhile, the Indian Embassy also has assured us that they will to connect us with the authorities back in India,” Kumar added.
In 2015, at least a dozen companies were duped by a trading firm in Muscat, which was owned by an Omani and run by an Indian manager.
The defrauded companies claimed they had suffered a loss of at least OMR1 million.
