Dubai: A financial services director at Dubai Financial Market (DFM) has been accused of forging three receipts of investors’ profits in stocks worth Dh1.8 million and embezzling Dh448,000.
The 37-year-old Indian director, M.A., was said to have forged three e-receipts of the profit in stocks that those investors had made in DFM in 2014 and forged three cheques [worth Dh1.8 million] and used one of them to cash Dh448,000 for himself in 2015.
Prosecutors accused M.A. of abusing public office, forging e-documents and official papers and embezzling public funds.
The suspect pleaded not guilty when he defended himself before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Monday.
“No, I did not do that,” M.A. told presiding judge Ali Abdul Wahhab in court.
According to the charge sheet, prosecutors said the suspect abused his former job at DFM as a financial services director to forge the three receipts of three investors [a cargo company and two banks] and the cheques and then used one of those cheques to pocket the money.
Prosecution records said the suspect registered his name as if he had invested in the stocks of those investors, then falsely mentioned his name as a beneficiary and cashed one of the cheques [Dh448,000]. The suspect abused his authority and forged email signatures and e-papers to be able to pocket the money after signing the cheque for himself.
One of DFM’s legal consultants claimed to prosecutors that the suspect abused his authority at DFM to embezzle the money.
“He was in charge of communicating with the investors to notify them about their profits and the typing centres that issue the cheques to those investors. He managed to obtain three cheques that were issued in his name without the DFM’s knowledge or consent. Then he used one of those cheques [as a bogus investor] and cashed it. During questioning, he admitted that he had forged the cheques,” he testified to prosecutors.
Records said police apprehended the suspect shortly after the DFM’s management lodged a complaint against him.
The trial continues.
