Gang lands behind bars for Dhs750,000 fraud

 Emadueddin Khalil and Mohammed Yaseen, Staff Reporters

An African gang of three has landed in the Dubai Criminal Court over charges of seizing Dhs350,000 from unidentified victims and for attempting to seize Dhs750,000 from a company using forged documents.

According to case papers dating back to Feb 20, the three suspects, one of them a fugitive, would use modern technology to seize money from individuals. They would use the identity card of the fugitive suspect to encash cheques after depositing them in his account, in return for 1% of the value of the embezzled funds.

A female employee of a GCC company testified she discovered the suspects had forged documents of a real estate company and contacted her via e-mail asking her to transfer the rent of the company amounting to Dhs750,000 to an account number belonging to one of the suspects.

The witness added she filed a complaint with the concerned authorities and a Dubai Police witness stated the bank employee suspected a client who attempted to encash a cheque with an identity card of another and was immediately arrested.

On being interrogated, the suspect admitted all the operations carried out by the gang with the identity of the fugitive, for 1% of the value of the sums, where he confessed to encashing three cheques totalling Dhs350,000.

He also admitted his attempt to log into the system of a real estate company in an attempt to seize Dhs750,000 from one of the tenants, so the court ordered the continued imprisonment of the two suspects while the fugitive will be tried in absentia.

Separately, the Abu Dhabi Court of First Instance has obligated a suspect to pay an employee Dhs200,000 in compensation for bodily injuries and psychological damage caused to him as a result of pushing and being run over by a vehicle while being on duty, according to the medical report which proved that the injuries caused him disability.

The details of the case indicated that the second suspect pushed the employee while being on duty and then drove an insured bus with the first suspect, the “insurance company”, and ran him over, resulting in damage to the plaintiff.

The forensic report indicated that the employee suffered a fracture in the right lower limb, causing a 30% permanent disability, and abrasions in the left thigh, left knee and left leg.  The employee’s lawyer demanded that the suspects pay Dhs200,000 in compensation for damages caused to his client, besides paying fees and expenses.

The court obligated the second suspect to pay Dhs200,000 to the employee, besides the lawsuit and attorney fees, explaining that the Public Prosecution investigation showed that the second suspect assaulted the employee and ran him over.