Planning analyst’s sentence upheld

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

A man who swindled Dhs200, 000 from a bank and attempted to swindle a Dhs723, 000 personal loan from another has lost an appeal against his punishment.

The Arab defendant –a planning analyst, 50- faked copies of a visa, an Emirates ID and a passport. He faked a credit card application, obtained the card from an Abu Dhabi-based bank and withdrew Dhs200, 000.

Thereafter, he forged an employment card and a salary certificate in the name of a ghost employee who allegedly worked for the ministry of education. He impersonated that employee, prosecutors said.

He forged a bank statement attributed to a local bank and committed forgery on a personal loan application. He used the documents in a bid to swindle a Dhs723, 000 from a Dubai-based bank. The bid fell flat.

He was lured into an ambush, and hauled into court on May 23. The Dubai Criminal Court sentenced him to two years behind bars to be followed by deportation. The Dubai Appeals Court has upheld the penalty.

On the record, the defendant confessed during prosecution questioning. He revealed he stored photos of his passport, visa, national ID, bank statement, employment card and salary certificate in his computer.

He used a photo-editing software to wipe data from the documents and replace it with bogus one of a ghost employee. He met the Abu-Dhabi based bank’s saleswoman at a mall in Dubai and applied for a credit card.

He received the card in December 2017 and immediately withdrew the card’s Dhs200, 000 limit from the bank’s ATM on Sheikh Zayed Road. He then went to a regional bank to obtain a loan but his application got rejected.

Last year he went to the Dubai-based bank to get a Dhs723, 000 loan from which he would pay the Dhs200, 000 debt incurred on the card. He submitted fake documents and signed the application. The bank detected the forgery and called him to sign “necessary papers.” Cops nabbed him.