Dhs28m fraud case: Court orders stay on execution

Ehab Atta, Staff Reporter

The Dubai Criminal Court, Sunday, ordered stay of execution against four Gulf citizens and fined them Dhs696,000 after they were charged with forging and facilitating the issuance of 1069 distinguished numbers from a telecommunications company. It helped them embezzle Dhs28 million.

The official records reveal the four defendants colluded to facilitate the embezzlement of Dhs28 million from the company’s returns. The second defendant, 37, who worked as a manager in the company, abused his powers to gain access to the company’s electronic system, control customers’ data and receive requests from VIPs.

He made it easy for the first and third defendants to illegally obtain 1069 distinguished numbers of the company and sell them in the market after inputting forged data. This was done without obtaining the prior written approval from the executive president for commercial affairs or the executive president of the company.

The fourth defendant, 44, was assigned the role of helping forge official documents and certify the data of the numbers were correct.

Acquitted

Separately, the Dubai Criminal Court has acquitted a Gulf businessman and an Arab employee and sentenced another Gulf employee to three years in jail and deportation on fraud charges for selling 954,797 shares in a telecommunication company worth Dhs11 million without the knowledge of the original  share owner.

While the two defendants denied the charge before the court, Dubai Public Prosecution submitted the testimony of the victim (a Gulf housewife, 72), who stated that she bought the shares 20 years ago and was getting the profits regularly.

Later, the victim noticed that no profits were received any longer and when she asked the mother company about the reason, she was told that the shares were the property of another owner. The victim denied  she knew anything about property transfer and told the police accordingly.

The defendants were arrested and referred to Dubai Public Prosecution, which initiated investigation into the case and recorded the confessions and role of each defendant. The first defendant’s role was to forge documents that made it easy for the property to be transferred and sold. The third defendant helped the first defendant in agreeing with a woman, who was still at large, in impersonating the share owner and forging her signature on the property transfer order. The second defendant was charged with assisting in completing the sale and transfer of the shares and damaging the reputation of the securities market.