Court upholds loan swindler’s penalty

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

A man serving three years over fraudulent activities has failed to convince the Appeals Court to drop an additional year he was handed over a Dhs550, 000 loan scam.

The Asian man, 22, forged an employment visa voucher, a labour card and a driving licence indicating they were issued by concerned authorities to a technical services company Pakistani employee (K).  

He fixed his photo on each of the counterfeit documents and also forged a salary certificate. He applied for a credit card and a car loan and also opened an account at a bank, prosecutors said on Sept.11.

He, in bad faith, issued a Dhs549, 304 guarantee cheque to the bank while aware there were no funds in his account. He managed to swindle Dhs549, 304 bank facilities (personal loan, credit card and car loan).

The counterfeit documents showed K worked at the (ghost) company as an assistant manager. The defendant during court questioning confessed to have submitted the cheque and received the money.

However, he contended that the forgeries were made by his fugitive cohorts. The Dubai Criminal Court jailed him for one year plus deportation. He sought mercy. The Dubai Appeals Court upheld the penalty.

In prosecution records, a Jordanian banker, 31, testified that a man (the defendant) identified as K handed him loan application documents. “These included his passport containing a visa voucher,” he said.

During prosecution questioning, the defendant acknowledged the photos on bogus documents were his. He confessed to have been the one who faked K’s signature on the loan application and cheque.

He further explained that a fugitive cohort showed him a document bearing K’s original signature. He modeled the bogus signature on it. His cohorts were the ones who fixed his photos in their passports.

He used the passports to bilk various banks. He claimed K was among cohorts residing in Pakistan. However, a ministerial report showed K was working at an electro mechanic works company in the UAE.