Dubai accountant jailed for embezzling Dhs1.47m from company

A female accountant embezzled Dhs1.47 million from the company she worked for, taking advantage of her position and the management's trust in her. She also forged accounting documents and used them to hide the manipulation.

The Dubai Criminal Court sentenced her to one year in jail, fined her Dhs1.47 million, confiscated the forged documents, and ordered her deportation from the country. Subsequently, the Dubai Civil Court ordered her to pay Dhs2 million to the company as compensation for damages incurred.

In detail, a company filed a civil lawsuit demanding that an accountant who worked for it pay Dhs3,426,449,  plus legal interest, after an audit revealed financial transfers from the company account to the appellee's personal accounts. These transfers allegedly included approximately Dhs2.95 million during the period from January 2017 to August 2019, under the pretext of using them to pay company expenses.

The forensic accountant's report also revealed a deficit of Dhs1,475,000, as no documents were provided to prove disbursement operations. It was also found that there were repeated recordings of payment amounts and accounting adjustments made to hide the discrepancies, in addition to other violations including establishing a company during her work for the plaintiff company without the latter's consent, holding a management position in a third company, and colluding with an accounting firm to hide the manipulation.

The Public Prosecution referred the appellee to court on charges of embezzling Dhs1,475,000, forging unofficial documents, and using them.

The Criminal Court sentenced her in absentia to one year in jail, confiscated the forged documents, fined her the amount involved in the crime, ordered her deportation from the country, and referred the civil lawsuit to the competent court.

The Civil Court found that the criminal judgment, after not being appealed, and the evidence contained in the investigations and the expert report, were sufficient to prove the appellee's fault. Also the court stated that the company suffered material damages as a result of the seizure of its funds and being deprived of their use, in addition to moral damages.

Therefore, the court ordered her to pay the company Dhs2 million as total compensation for all damages, with 5% annual legal interest from the date the judgment becomes final until full payment, in addition to fees, costs, and attorney fees.