Dubai: A salesman lost his appeal and will spend two years in jail for posing as a Briton and claiming to a banker that his salary is Dh17,000 to take a Dh300,000 loan using forged papers.

The Pakistani salesman, H.M., claimed to the Indian banker that he was a British national and his Dh17,000 monthly salary made him eligible for a bank loan of Dh300,000 in October 2015.

H.M. visited the Indian representative at the bank’s branch in Ibn Battuta Mall and provided him with all the papers requested to apply for the loan.

H.M. presented a salary certificate in which he alleged to the bank’s representative that his name is M.F. and that he worked as an engineer at Dubai International Airport with a Dh17,000 salary. He also produced photocopies of an Emirates ID and other papers and left.

The banker referred the applications [to open a bank account and obtain a personal loan], the file was approved and processed within two days and the money was deposited in H.M.’s new account, according to records.

The bank later discovered that the submitted documents were forged and instantly reported the matter to the police.

In August, the Dubai Court of First Instance convicted H.M. of forging official and non-official papers and using them in his attempt to embezzle Dh300,000 from the bank.

The defendant appealed the primary ruling and pleaded not guilty before the Appeal Court.

Presiding judge Eisa Al Sharif rejected H.M.’s appeal and upheld his two-year jail sentence.

The accused will be deported following the completion of his punishment.

The defendant forged photocopies of official papers (an Emirates ID and residency stamp and salary certificate issued from the airport), said records.

He tampered with details on the papers that he used to apply for the loan.

The banker said when he first met the defendant, H.M. alleged to him that his name was M.F. and that he is British.

“He visited me at the mall and provided me with all the requested documents that I had asked him to submit to open an account and get a loan. Two days later the approval came and the money was deposited in the applicant’s account. The next day we discovered that the submitted papers were forged and so we informed the police,” he said.

The appellate ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 28 days.