Dubai court acquits lab manager of embezzling Dhs2.4 million

A woman accused the manager of a technical laboratory owned by her husband of embezzling Dhs2,433,000, which was entrusted to him. The Misdemeanour Court in Dubai acquitted him.

In detail, an Asian woman filed a complaint stating that the operations manager of a technical laboratory owned by her husband had embezzled funds and deposited them into his personal account and the accounts of his family members.

She also alleged that he used the funds to travel in business class. The complainant added that the accused was promoted two years ago and exploited his position after her husband, the laboratory owner, fell ill.

She noted that he seized large sums of money, and she hired an accounting expert who prepared a report revealing these violations.

The accounting expert’s report clarified that the laboratory is a limited liability company specialising in mechanical and physical testing and that the suspect exploited his authority after being promoted to Operations Manager in 2023, committing multiple violations.

These violations included collecting payments from clients without depositing them into the company’s account, using company employees to deposit funds into his personal account, settling personal obligations with company funds, manipulating account statements and receipts, purchasing business-class travel tickets for himself and his family at the company’s expense, destroying documents, and hiring employees under invalid contracts.

During the interrogations, the man denied the charges, asserting that the complaint was malicious due to his resignation.

He stated that he had previously obtained a court ruling entitling him to Dhs603,000 as his end-of-service gratuity, but the laboratory owner refused to pay and instead accused him of embezzlement.

The suspect submitted an email from a company employee stating that the complainant had forced the employee to sign a statement claiming the accused had seized his salary.

The court acquitted him of the charges, based on the fact that the woman’s complaint relied on unsubstantiated statements without supporting accounting evidence. The court added that it found that the accusation was doubted and that the dispute had an employment-related nature.