Fake engineer jailed for loan swindling bid

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

A transport authority driver after being fired, posed as the authority’s technology engineer in an attempt to swindle a Dhs147, 000 bank loan. The Asian defendant, 27, with the help of a fugitive accomplice counterfeited a visa voucher, and faked a salary certificate, salary transfer certificate and an employment card attributed to the authority.

They also forged a bank statement attributed to a global bank. He presented the bogus documents to a Dubai-based bank in a bid to swindle the loan along with a credit card with a Dhs14, 500 credit limit.

The scheme was foiled after an employee discerned them and discovered they were fake, prosecutors told the Dubai Criminal Court on Dec.16. The court sentenced him to one year in jail plus deportation.

He sought to challenge the ruling and argued, “I wanted a loan. A man told me he would help find me a loan. I gave him my authentic documents to finalise procedures. He committed the forgeries.

“I was not aware he was a forger and I was not aware the documents were forged.” He argued he had nothing to do with the fake documents. However, the Dubai Appeals Court has upheld the penalty. An Indian official from the bank’s loans section said he was on duty on Aug 29 when the defendant arrived and applied for the loan and credit card. He presented the supposed required documents.The official handed him a form. He filled in required data and signed it. The application was processed. As a prerequisite, the official had to first contact the defendant’s workplace to confirm he worked there.

“I went to there to prove his documents’ authenticity. I was told the salary certificate and salary transfer certificate were counterfeits. The visa showing he was an engineer was fake,” explained the official.

The authority’s Emirati legal researcher revealed the defendant once worked as their driver before being dismissed. During police and prosecution questioning, the defendant confessed to the fraud bid.

Recently, a hotel official was jailed for stealing guests’ security deposits worth Dhs252, 245.

The Dubai Criminal Court sentenced him to two years imprisonment plus deportation.

The Asian defendant was heading the hotel’s securities section when he counterfeited reclaim forms. He scanned original forms and altered guests’ bankcard numbers to the number listed on his credit card.