Accountant jailed after pleading guilty

Dubai: A court has jailed a former accountant of Dubai World Group (DWG) for six months for embezzling Dh230,000.

"I am guilty… I did embezzle, but I repaid nearly 95 per cent of the embezzled amount," defended the 30-year-old Indian accountant before the Dubai Court of First Instance claiming he repaid Dh213,000.

Presiding Judge Fahmi Mounir fined accused S.T. Dh230,000 and ordered him to repay Dh17,000 to DWG. He will be deported after the completion of his jail term.

The court also found him guilty of abusing his job at a subsidiary of Dubai World Group.

According to the bill of charges, prosecutors accused S.T. with abusing his duty as a public servant and embezzling money from the subsidiary where he worked as an accountant.

Handwritten receipts

The accused pleaded guilty and sought a lenient judgment when he appeared in court.

He confessed before the prosecutors that he collected money from clients, gave them handwritten receipts without showing the cash in the books.

Records identified the subsidiary of Dubai World Group as owned by the Dubai Government.

An Emirati legal consultant testified: "The audit department unveiled that the suspect embezzled Dh230,000. He abused his accountancy job and pocketed the money. He was supposed to hand the clients receipts from the subsidiary's computer but instead he gave them handwritten receipts. He kept the receipts' carbon copies in his possession without handing them to the management."

According to the subsidiary's finance manager, the accused embezzled the amounts in two payments of Dh110,000 and Dh103,000.

Prosecution records said the embezzlement took place between August 2007 and near end of September this year.

The primary sentence is still subject to appeal within 15 days.