Dubai event discusses heft of talking about fraud

Mariecar Jara-Puyod, Senior Reporter

The UAE has stepped up measures and shall continually seek ways to keep any fraud at bay and not seep into sectors and industries.

The 800-strong Alnazaha Association is now the ACFE-UAE Chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), the organisation composed of 85,000 anti-fraud professionals from both the public and private industries worldwide. ACFE, in collaboration with the Open Thinking Academy, continually elevates knowledge and skills against all forms of scams and shams through lectures and workshops such as “What is the value of corporate ethics” as well as courses such as “Contract and Procurement Fraud.”

The extent of deception and corruption within even the smallest organisations lies on every person and his values.

These were from the first day of the “Fraud Conference Middle East” ongoing at Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai until Tuesday, hosted by the UAE Federal Authority for Identity & Citizenship, the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs-Dubai (GDRFADXB), co-organized by ACFE, and under the patronage of Sheikh Maktoum Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai.

In his opening remarks, visiting ACFE president and chief executive officer Bruce Dorris thanked the Dubai leadership and authorities in hosting the gathering and welcomed the Alnazaha into the ACFE.

He said it is of great importance to spread awareness and cooperation against any fraud.

Alnazaha “was established as a non-profit public benefit association in Ministerial Resolution No. 133 of 2019 issued by the UAE Ministry of Community Development.”

Alnazaha with its core values anchored on integrity, reliability, professionalism, efficiency and innovation, aims to spread and promote honesty and uprightness leading to a fraud-free society.

Keynote speaker visiting University of Zurich-Finance associate professor Dr. Alexander Wagner took the delegates to the thoughts of philosophers Adam Smith and Emmanuel Kant as well to documented global and national (Switzerland) research studies on human behaviour and fraud.

Wagner said it all boils down to how a person looks at and values life, the consequences, and the temporary or long-term benefits.

He pointed out that each person is different so authorities must be careful in their strategies to discourage the commission of deception and corruption.

Wagner said it is “extremely significant” to talk about this lawlessness. He cited a global study conducted two years back through which 2,690 real cases of occupational fraud was un-earthed amounting to $17 billion losses. 

On the extent of fraud and how the UAE is enhancing measures, Financial Audit Department-Dubai director general/Dubai International Financial Centre-Board member Abdullah Ghobash told Gulf Today: “The UAE government makes sure that (the country is fraud-free.) The Ministry of Finance and all the other entities have come up with protocols against fraud which are already published in the ministry website.”

On the sidelines, GDRFADXB director general Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri said: “There is no fraud in the UAE.”

Interviewed, GDRFADXB-Performance Audit head Capt. Mohammed Issa Al Marri defined fraud as coming in three categories namely “technology, financial and country security streams. I can assure that within the 10 years of my work, we have not encountered any form of fraud in the areas of administrative, financial, IT and governance.”

Al Marri volunteered on what is done to employees who may be remiss of their duties and responsibilities: “If that is done once, then it is human error. We commit mistakes. But, if done 30 to 40 times for example, then, (something fishy is going on). We have preventive measures. We are not going to immediately impose rules on accountability. We (initially) encourage the employee (to reform). Our goal is to keep on improving as Minister Ghobash had said in his statement.”