UAE: Former manager ordered to pay Dh83,220 for refusing to return company car

Abu Dhabi - He was also asked to pay the Dh14,650 traffic fines he had incurred.

A former manager of a private firm has been ordered to pay back Dh83,220 to the employer after he refused to return the company’s car -- Porsche Cayenne – at the end of his services.

The Abu Dhabi First Instance Court also told the man to pay the Dh14,650 traffic fines he had incurred while driving the car, registered under the name of the company.

The company had filed a lawsuit against its former administrative manager and urged that he’s obligated to pay Dh182,960, the value of the car he had seized, and Dh14,650 in traffic violations he committed.

The company owner had submitted a request to the bank to finance the purchase of the Porsche Cayenne at a total cost of Dh182,960 provided that the vehicle had to be registered in the name of the company.

The plaintiff said he had paid an initial cash deposit of Dh49,500 to the bank for purchasing the car and the balance of Dh133, 460 had to be paid in monthly installments of Dh2,781.

The employer then handed over the vehicle to the defendant so as to facilitate his work for the company.

The plaintiff said the man was to hand over the car to the company at the end of his contract, but he didn’t. And while driving the car, whose annual registration licence also expired after the man left the company, he committed traffic fines amounting to Dh14,650.

The defendant had denied refusing to hand over the car to his former employer stressing that he had paid part of the monthly installments to the bank for purchasing the vehicle.

A report of the technical expert, assigned by the court to investigate into the matter, showed that the car, according to the statements from the parties to the lawsuit, was apparently in the possession of the defendant. The report also indicated that the total amount that had been paid to the bank for the car installments had reached Dh160,740, out of which Dh77,520 was paid by the defendant, and Dh83,220 by the plaintiff. The remaining installments to be cleared in the bank was Dh22,220.

In its ruling, the court explained that the expert report had concluded that the plaintiff had paid part of the value of the car which was in the defendant’s possession and owned by him, regardless of whether it was registered in the name of the plaintiff.

Therefore, the court ruled to obligate the defendant to pay the plaintiff Dh83,220 they had paid for the car. He was also told to clear the remaining installments for the car with the bank and to pay for the company’s legal expenses.

ismail@khaleejtimes.com

• Abu Dhabi