BD120,000 claim on fake property sale dismissed

Daily Tribune

04-04-2025

A woman who accused her brother of taking BD120,000 from the sale of a family property has lost her case, after a court found the deal was fake and no money ever changed hands.
She had also demanded BD7,000 in rent for the time he held onto the property, claiming he used a power of attorney she had signed to sell it behind her back.
The High Civil Court dismissed the case after hearing from witnesses, sifting through documents and reviewing rulings from the Sharia court.
Among those who gave evidence was their own mother, who had been listed as the buyer.
Authority
The row began when the woman granted her brother sweeping authority to manage a property she had received as a gift from their mother.
The document gave him the right to sell it to himself or someone else.
He chose the latter and sold it to their mother, the same person who had owned it to begin with. She then gifted it back to him.
Arrangement
The woman argued that her brother used the arrangement to walk away with the money. He said it was just a paper transaction. The court took his side.
His lawyer, AbdulAtheem Hubail, said the sale was purely procedural, a way to transfer ownership without any money changing hands.
Payment
He presented Sharia court rulings backing the claim that the power of attorney had been issued to pass the property back to their mother without payment.
The mother confirmed this in court. She said she had not paid a dinar and the sale was just for show. The real trouble, she said, came from family disputes over who should get what.
Gift
The civil court also noted that the sister had already tried and failed to undo the mother's later gift to her brother in religious court.
That challenge was rejected after the Sharia court confirmed the gift was valid.
With no evidence the brother had received any money, the civil court found there was no case to answer.
The claim was dismissed and the woman was ordered to cover the costs.