Dubai court jails woman for stealing Dhs2.085m

Dubai Misdemeanors Court sentenced an Asian woman to two years in jail to be followed by deportation and fined her Dhs2.085 million after being convicted of stealing the same amount of the fine from an investor.

The civil lawsuit was referred to the competent court for consideration, while two other Asians were acquitted of the charge of complicity in the theft.

The case dated back to January when an investor reported to the police that Dhs2.085 million had been stolen from his apartment in Deira.

He stated that the defendant had been working in one of his companies for some time before leaving Dubai and returning again two weeks before the incident, when he hosted her in his home.

He indicated that on the day of the incident, he accompanied the defendant to a money exchange company to collect Dhs2 million belonging to a friend who had asked him to buy a residential unit.

He placed the money in a bag and added Dhs85,000 to it, he said, adding that after returning to his home, he put a bag in the living room and headed to his bedroom only to be surprised the next day that the defendant and the bag were missing.

A policeman stated in the interrogations that the defendant was found to have left the country after handing the money over to another person to hide, adding that the police managed to arrest the second defendant and found Dhs1.4 million out of the stolen money in his possession.

On interrogation, the second defendant denied any knowledge of the theft, stating that the defendant was nervous when she visited him at night and asked him to take her to the airport after having dinner at a restaurant on their way.

There, she handed the bag over to him, claiming that it contained her own money, he said, adding that she asked him to transfer it to her account in her home country.

He confirmed that he transferred Dhs500,000 and another amount in US dollars as part of the money to the defendant’s account in her home country and presented the transfer receipt.

He also transferred another amount to the third defendant’s account, while part of the money remained in his possession until it was later seized, he said.

The third defendant, to whom part of the money was transferred, stated that the amount he received was a debt owed to him by the first and second defendants, denying any knowledge of its illegal source.

He said he was willing to return the money to the investor and reconcile with him.