Banker fined Dhs1.65m by court over fraud

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

A banker who siphoned Dhs896,742 will serve one year behind bars, return Dhs828,687 and pay an equivalent fine, a jury decided on Wednesday.  

The Asian defendant, 31, was working at a bank in Al Muraqqabat area as its assistant manager when he embezzled Dhs261,742.75 that had been entrusted with him as per the nature of his job.

He forged signatures of his seniors on a cheque and changed the beneficiary’s name to his wife’s. He used the cheque to take Dhs635,000 more. The incidents happened between 2015 and April 2017.

The Dubai Criminal Court convicted him of embezzlement, abuse of duties, forging an official document and using it. The court ordered he be deported after serving the jail and fines punishment.

On the record, an Indian witness, 35, who worked as the bank’s anti-fraud section director testified that that the defendant worked in the bank’s mortgage and property loans section.

He made use of his office to forge paperwork and embezzle then money. “He was in charge of registering properties (financed by the bank) at the Land Department under the clients’ names.

“He was also supposed to register a given developer’s deal and collect payments from the concerned client. He did not deposit the collected fees in the bank’s account nor did he register the clients’ property units.

“He abused his position to take the money for his own benefit,” explained the director, adding that the defendant counterfeited a Dhs635,000 cheque and issued it in favour of his wife.

“He did this by falsifying data on an application form. Instead of the beneficiary’s name he placed his wife’s name. He then fixed two bogus signatures on the form.”

The case was reported to Al Muraqqabat Police Station. He confessed to the charges at the Public Prosecution. Prosecutors provided a copy of the bogus cheque to the jury as technical evidence.

He skipped court questioning in 2017 and was initially sentenced in absentia. Following a retrial, the court awarded him the punishment on Wednesday.