Banker loses appeal in Dh980,000 embezzlement case

Dubai: A banker lost his appeal on Wednesday and will spend five years in jail for abusing his banking job and forging and embezzling a premier client’s Dh980,000 from his account.

The 33-year-old Egyptian banker, M.H., was the premier client’s personal adviser when he embezzled the amount from the Syrian businessman’s account after forging his signature.

The Dubai Appeal Court rejected M.H.’s appeal and upheld the five-year imprisonment against him.

Presiding judge Saeed Salem Bin Sarm also confirmed the primary court’s decision to remove M.H. from his job.

The accused has also been ordered to repay Dh980,000 to the bank and fined him the same amount as well.

Despite having entered a not guilty plea before the appellate court, the Egyptian defendant was convicted of abusing his position at the bank and forging the Syrian’s signature to open a separate bank account, where he deposited the stolen money.

Records said M.H. also used the personal documents of an Indian man, M.R., to process a credit card and withdraw money from the account of the businessman, A.H.

According to Wednesday’s ruling, the accused will be deported following he completion of his punishment.

Records said the banker forged a personal finance application bearing A.H.’s name and an application to open a bank account for M.R.

He forged a credit card application bearing M.R.’s name and an application to transfer money from A.H.’s account to that of M.R.

Then he used the forged documents to steal the money from A.H.’s account and used the credit card as well.

The Syrian said he deposited Dh4 million in his bank account in 2009 and since then was considered a premier client.

“M.H. was my personal adviser and handled all my transactions. I discovered on July 6 that I had two accounts when I went to cash a cheque at the bank’s branch in Nad Al Hammar. I was told that someone had opened a new account in my name in 2012 and transferred Dh980,000 to it from the main account,” A.H. said.

“The contact details had been changed on the application and I had not been receiving SMSs concerning any bank transfers. That person managed to transfer the money to another person’s account [who turned out to be M.R.] when I checked the documents, which were used to open the account, I informed the management that the signature was forged.”

A director at the bank said investigations revealed that the defendant used the credit card to withdraw cash from ATMs.

A police lieutenant said M.H. admitted that he forged several documents and forged A.H.’s signature to steal the money.

Wednesday’s ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 30 days.