6 jailed, fined Dhs1.9 million for embezzling Dhs6.2 million from businesswoman’s bank accounts

Ehab Atta, Staff Reporter

The Dubai Criminal Court on Wednesday sentenced 6 Asians to three years in jail and fined them Dhs1.9 million on charges of forming and forging documents to embezzle $1.7 million or Dhs6.2 million from bank accounts belonging to a businesswoman, who was a customer of a UAE bank.

The case dated back to February and March 2019 when officials of a bank requested a security authority to check a number of transfers estimated at Dhs6.2 million made from three accounts belonging to a businesswoman and bank customer to other accounts with different banks in the UAE.

The authority contacted the victim’s company to enquire about the transfers but the company stated that it did not make and had no idea about any transfers.

Further investigations showed that the second defendant in collaboration with the other defendants had forged official documents and a licence proving that he was the owner of the company, which belonged to the victim and her father.

He later visited a telecommunication company and requested a replacement SIM card to be issued for him so that he would be able to receive the bank’s SMS. Additionally, he commissioned a woman to call the bank and answer the identification questions related to the victim. This enabled the woman to request a debit card to be issued and to subsequently receive the card through courier service.

As soon as the gang members received the card, they made bank transfers from the victim’s three accounts to other accounts and withdrew the money from ATMs. The transfers and withdrawn money brought to Dhs6.2 million the total amounts embezzled by the gang.