We’ve sat across the table from clients at a police station past midnight, holding a complaint they never saw coming. A false accusation is a police report that doesn’t match the facts. Sometimes it’s an honest mistake. Sometimes it’s the wrong name on the wrong form. Sometimes someone wanted to hurt you, and a complaint was the easiest way to do it.
Under UAE process, several situations fall under that heading:
- Honest mistakes — a complainant genuinely but incorrectly believes an offence occurred
- Mistaken identity — the wrong person is reported for an act they did not commit
- Lack of evidence — a complaint is filed without sufficient factual basis to support it
- Malicious complaints — a report filed intentionally to harm, harass, or gain leverage over another person
Only the UAE criminal investigation process — police, prosecutors, the courts — decides which category a complaint falls into, which means neither you nor the person who filed it gets to make that call, whatever either of you believes happened.
We hold rights of audience in UAE criminal courts. That’s what lets us stand next to you at the police station, and again in front of a judge.
Before There Is Any Case
Not everyone who calls us has a complaint against them yet. Some call because they’re about to do something — send a message, sign a settlement, launch a side venture, chase a debt a certain way — and want to know if it could turn into a criminal matter before they go through with it. For that stage, before any police file exists, we point people to Pre-Case Criminal Risk Intelligence, a privacy-first tool that takes a planned action or a nagging worry and flags where UAE criminal exposure could sit inside it. It asks for none of your details, files nothing, and reports to no one. It’s a way to think a decision through before there’s a case to think through.
Where These Complaints Usually Start
Most false accusations start the same way. Somebody in a personal or business dispute decides a police report will give them leverage, or simply cause trouble, for the other side.
We see it in:
- Breakdowns between former romantic partners or spouses
- Workplace conflicts or disputes between colleagues
- Business disagreements between partners or associates
- Neighbour disputes — a shared wall, a parking spot, a noise complaint that escalates
- Financial or contractual disagreements
The complaint might allege theft, assault, fraud — words that look serious on a police form, sometimes without a single fact behind them. Under UAE criminal case procedures, every complaint gets treated the same way at first: taken seriously, logged, and pushed into the formal investigation process. No exceptions at the intake counter.
What to Do in the First Hours
If you believe a false complaint has been filed against you, your priority is to act lawfully, gather evidence, and call a lawyer before you do anything else.
Before you attend a station, travel, pay anyone, sign anything, or reply to a message, run the arrest-risk check — a 60-second questionnaire built for exactly this moment: a police call, a rumour of a complaint, a bounced cheque, an accusation of fraud or breach of trust. It organises the facts we ask for on the first call anyway — who contacted you, what the allegation involves, what paperwork exists, whether a travel ban or warrant is likely — so by the time you reach us, we’re not starting from zero.
Here’s what we tell every client who calls us at 2 a.m.:
- Preserve everything. The WhatsApp thread. The signed contract. The boarding pass. The CCTV timestamp from the lobby. Keep it exactly as it is. Don’t tidy it up, and don’t delete the parts that embarrass you.
- Write it down. Dates, times, locations, the people involved, while you can still remember which day it was.
- Do not contact the complainant. No call, no message, no mutual friend sent to smooth things over.
- Call us, or a UAE criminal lawyer you trust, immediately. We take calls around the clock, because complaints don’t wait for office hours and neither do we.
- Cooperate if Dubai Police call you in. Attend, and cooperate with what’s lawfully asked.
- Speak only through official channels — your lawyer or the official process, never an informal intermediary or a social media post.
Early. Measured. Through the proper channels. That’s what protects your position.
Mistakes That Make a File Worse
The wrong response makes things worse. Certain actions are particularly damaging — some quietly, some in ways that surface in the case file months later.
We ask clients to avoid:
- Ignoring official communications — a summons left unopened on the counter can be treated as an aggravating factor
- Contacting the complainant directly — even with good intentions, this can be read as witness interference or harassment
- Deleting messages or records — removing anything that might be relevant can look suspicious and may amount to obstruction
- Discussing the case publicly — a post, a story, a comment thread can be used against you and may complicate the investigation
- Any move that looks like interference — including approaching witnesses outside official channels
Staying inside the lines from the start prevents most of what follows. Most of it.
Evidence That Actually Helps
The most useful evidence is anything that builds a clear, verifiable timeline, because that’s what an investigator can check against phone records, bank statements, and CCTV logs — not what either side simply asserts.
We look for:
- Written communications (messages, emails, contracts)
- Financial transaction records
- Location data and timestamps
- CCTV footage where it exists — the camera above the shop door, the one in the lobby, the one at the petrol station
- Statements from people with direct, first-hand knowledge of events
The police and courts decide what counts. What proves useful varies case to case, and that’s the conversation we have with you before we file anything.
When a Complaint Is Malicious
A malicious complaint is one filed deliberately to harm or create difficulties for another person, rather than to report a genuine offence.
Under the UAE Penal Code, false reporting is not treated lightly. Articles 324 and 325 address false accusation directly, and — as Al Tamimi & Company have noted — a false accusation is not a minor matter under UAE law, because it carries real consequences for the person who makes it, not only for the person accused.
A complaint may look malicious when it is:
- Filed in the middle of a bitter personal or professional dispute
- Timed to land the week before a hearing, or right after a business partner asks for money back
- Unsupported by any verifiable evidence
- Built on allegations the complainant could not reasonably have witnessed
That call belongs to the authorities, not to us and not to you. Recognising the possibility of malice helps you understand the context, but it doesn’t change what you do next. Same steps, either way.
What Happens After the Complaint Is Filed
A complaint gets filed. Dubai Police log it, review it, and may open an initial investigation. From there it can move to the Dubai Public Prosecution for review, and in some cases to court.
The general sequence:
- Complaint filed — the report is received and recorded by the police
- Initial investigation — officers review the complaint, gather information, and may call parties in for questioning: a phone call, a date, a room with a desk and two chairs
- Prosecution review — the Dubai Public Prosecution decides whether to proceed with charges
- Court proceedings — if charges are brought, the case moves through the court system
Not every complaint leads to charges, and not every charge leads to a conviction, because each stage — police, prosecution, court — makes its own decision on its own timeline.
For a longer account of how this runs in practice, Al Tamimi’s guide to criminal proceedings in Dubai is worth reading.
Why Call a Lawyer Early
A lawyer is your most important resource here. Call one before you say a single word to the police.
That’s what we do for clients:
- Explain your rights and the likely steps in your specific case
- Help you prepare a clear, factual response to the authorities
- Stand with you at police or prosecution appointments where permitted
- Advise on what evidence matters and how to present it
- Speak on your behalf through official channels, so you don’t have to
Early legal involvement reduces the risk of procedural errors. Fewer mistakes, fewer surprises later.
We handle the file the same way from first call to final hearing: police, prosecution, court, appeal. One team, not a handoff to someone you’ve never met. And because a false accusation rarely arrives alone — it can touch a company shareholding, a tenancy, a custody arrangement — we also work the corporate, real estate, and family matters that sit next to it, under one roof in Business Bay.
Official Resources
If you want to check a complaint’s status, read the law directly, or go through official channels yourself:
- Dubai Police official website — main portal for criminal complaints and services
- Dubai Police online services and criminal reports
- Smart Police Station (SPS) — 24/7 self-service portal for complaints and enquiries
- UAE Ministry of Justice — official source for legislation and justice services
- UAE Government justice and safety portal — entry point for all criminal justice procedures
- Download the full UAE Criminal Procedures Law (PDF)
Two tools sit alongside these official channels, for the two moments clients usually reach out in: the Pre-Case Criminal Risk Intelligence tool, for a decision you haven’t made yet, and the arrest-risk check, for a complaint that may already be moving. Neither substitutes for calling us — both make that call shorter.
What to Remember
- Act immediately and lawfully — preserve evidence and write down the facts before anything else
- Do not contact the complainant, delete records, or discuss the case publicly
- Call a qualified UAE criminal lawyer as early as possible
- Cooperate with every official summons, and speak only through proper channels
- The police, prosecution, and courts decide the outcome — your job is to respond correctly through the process
This article is general and educational. UAE law and procedure turn on the facts of each case, and nothing here replaces advice from a licensed UAE legal professional. Speak to one promptly about your own circumstances.
We are AK Criminal Lawyers, built on the practice of Amal Khamis, Dr. Alaa Al Houshy, and the Hashim Al Jamal lineage, based in Business Bay. We answer around the clock.
Call us now for an urgent appointment at +971506531334 or +971558018669.
