The photo has been used for illustrative purposes.

Aya Al Deeb, Staff Reporter

The Abu Dhabi Court of Appeal on Monday postponed to May 20 issuing verdict in the case of an Asian accused of obtaining loans from a local bank by forging documents in cooperation with four defendants.

The details date back to the time when the defendant was arrested after his escape from the country. The prosecution referred him to the Court on charges of assisting the four defendants who were convicted for issuing a salary certificate for an unknown person, by signing and stamping it representing the company the defendant worked for to obtain financial loans from a bank. The loan was approved and deposited to the account opened under forged documents.

The investigations showed that the accused had forged the documents required to open the bank account and a number of checks he had handed over to one of the defendants who had previously been tried before he left the country. He managed to complete the process and seize the bank’s money.

During the hearing, the defendant denied all the charges against him, seeking acquittal or commuting the sentence issued by the Court of First Instance to three years imprisonment to be followed by deportation.

In an unrelated case, recently, The Dubai Criminal Court  sentenced a Gulf businessman to three years in prison to be followed by deportation after he was convicted of forgery and fraud for selling 954,797 shares in a telecommunications company worth around Dhs11 million without the knowledge of the original shareholder. The court also acquitted two others involved in the case.

According to the official records, the victim, a Gulf housewife, 72, testified that she had bought the shares around 20 years ago and used to receive profits regularly. As no more profits were received, the victim enquired about the reason from the mother company and was told that the shares had become the property of another person. The victim told the police accordingly and the suspect was arrested and referred to Dubai Public Prosecution with two other defendants who were acquitted later.