Manager swindles company workers’ Dhs7.58m gratuity

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

A manager swindled workers’ gratuity worth Dhs7.58 million that he used to purchase a villa for himself. He has gone on the run.

The Canadian manager was in charge of organising board of directors’ meetings and choosing topics and agendas. He falsified minutes and noted that its chairman encouraged him to invest some Dhs7.58m.

And that for the benefit of employees, the chairman allowed him to invest the above sum of money in a closed-end-leasing programme to purchase a villa in installments over a period of ten years plus due interests.

He took the sum from the company’s employees’ End-Of-Service Benefits Fund. He added the details of the villa to the meeting’s minutes. He did not write in the company’s records that he took the money at all.

As per his employment contract, he was entitled to Dhs200,000 education benefits for his children. He falsified records to show the sum was Dhs300,000 annually. He availed himself of Dhs269,345 benefits.

He illicitly used two of the company’s cars for his own benefit, including transporting his children to school. The company lost Dhs78,656 in expenses on both cars. He teamed up with an Arab friend to embezzle more.

The friend –an Arab engineer, 59, worked at a consultancy firm that deals with the company. The manager convinced the company’s unsuspecting finance officer the engineer had provided consultancy services.

The manager illicitly prepared four cheques worth Dhs148,000 for the engineer and had them endorsed by the finance officer. He handed them to the engineer in addition to Dhs35,000 cash, according to records.

The engineer argued at the Dubai Criminal Court on Wednesday, “That’s not true.” His lawyer asked the jury for time to prepare his defence. The manager did not show up. The hearing was adjourned till Oct.2.

During finance department questioning, the manager claimed there was a suggestion to boost the loyalty of employees to the company by investing their gratuity in apartments instead of depositing it in the bank.

He took Dhs7.58m and purchased a villa he registered in his name. He also exaggerated education benefits over three years and swindled the difference. He misused the Ford car to transport his children to and from school.

An inspector said, “On a meeting’s minutes, the manager stealthily put a remark under the headline ‘Post Minutes.’ He noted that the chairman encouraged him to buy a real property under closed-end-leasing.”

The engineer during interrogations admitted to have swindled Dhs183,000 with the manager’s help and acknowledged there was no agreement between him and the company to provide it with consultancy services.

The chairman of the board of directors stressed that he did not even know the engineer and it was the first time he heard his name.