The defendant denied the charges and argued that a man identified as A was the one who prepared the documents.

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

DUBAI: An investor accused of forging papers in a botched bid to swindle a Dhs262, 000 bank loan contended in court on Thursday that he was illiterate.

The Asian defendant, 41, landed at the Dubai Criminal Court on suspicion that he posed as a doctor. He and a fugitive accomplice forged a salary certificate and an employment card attributed to the Dubai Health Authority.

They also counterfeited an entry permit attributed to the Ministry of Interior by replacing original data with false one.

In addition, they forged a bank statement and attributed it to a Dubai-based bank, prosecutors explained.

The defendant presented the counterfeit documents to an employee of an Abu Dhabi-based bank seeking to obtain bank facilities to the tune of Dhs262, 000.  This happened last year, Bur Dubai Police Station records showed.

The defendant denied the charges and argued that a man identified as A was the one who prepared the documents.

“He handed them to me and sent me to present them to the bank. I was not aware they were forged.”

The court showed him the documents and he said he was illiterate. “I can’t read or write,” he said and explained that he went to the bank and was given documents to sign on. He did so. He presented a defence memo. The ruling will be on April 4.

The bank’s Egyptian employee said he was inside a Dubai hospital on a mission to market the bank’s products and facilities it renders to clients when the defendant approached him saying he was a general practitioner.  He expressed his need for a Dhs262, 000 personal loan.

“I took his phone number. Shortly, I called him to arrange required documents. He told me to find him in Abu Hail area. There, he gave me the documents. I saw his visa in the passport showed he was a doctor. The bank’s management detected the documents were fake.”