17 men are standing trial at the Dubai Court of First Instance on various charges after they allegedly embezzled more than Dh9.1 million from multiple bank accounts.
Among the accused are three Arabs and 14 Asians. They are facing charges of forgery, fraud, gaining unlawful access into an e-system, damaging the interests of his workplace, and criminal complicity.
The alleged wrongdoings occurred from April 29 to October 19, 2016. The case was registered at the Bur Dubai police station.
During one instance, a 36-year old businessman, together with two accomplices, embezzled Dh595,000, from the bank account of an Indian man by forging a transfer application by cheque.
They used fake papers in the name of the victim, including an Emirates ID copy. They transferred the money to the account of a general trading firm at another bank. A 29-year-old Indian businessman, who had the right to sign transactions of disposal of the firm’s account, was also charged in the case.
A 36-year-old Emirati man, who worked at the customer service section of the bank, has been accused of forgery after he allegedly accepted fraudulent copies (transfer application form and an ID copy) without requesting the original ID or verifying the application form was indeed filed by the real bank account holder. By not complying with the bank regulations regarding the request of original documents, the customer service employee caused the customer to lose Dh595,000.
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The same Indian accused, with his runaway accomplices, and two co-defendants, aged 29 and 37, embezzled a total of Dh9.1 m from other bank customers, which they transferred to the account of a trading firm at another bank. The withdrawals would be by cheques or cash from ATM.
An Arab customer, complained that Dh916,000 was stolen from his account. The money was transferred to the account of another trading firm at another bank, and the victim’s signature was faked on the transfer application. A 43-year-old Indian businessman, who had the signature right when disposing of the firm’s account, was co-charged in the fraud case.
The trial will continue on January 17.
By Marie Nammour
