Dubai: Two inspectors at the Dubai Health Authority [DHA] have been accused of tampering with 1,434 electronic documents pertaining to travellers’ vaccinations and embezzling Dh214,000.

The Emirati health inspectors, A.M. and F.M., were said to have abused their duties at a clinic and accessed DHA’s e-system and cancelled a number of vaccination fees paid by travellers and embezzled the value of the e-documents they tampered with.

Prosecutors charged the suspects with forging DHA e-documents by printing forged receipts for vaccination fees they claimed had been returned to the clients and instead pocketing the money between January 2012 and June 2013.

According to the charge sheet, prosecutors said A.M. forged 1,158 e-documents and embezzled around Dh175,000 while F.M. forged 276 e-documents and embezzled around Dh39,000.

“Yes I forged the documents but I did not embezzle that much. The figure is wrong,” said A.M. when he entered a guilty plea before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Sunday. F.M. pleaded not guilty.

“What was the amount that you embezzled then?” Presiding Judge Mohammad Jamal asked A.M.

“I am not sure, but it is definitely less than Dh100,000,” he replied in courtroom three.

Prosecution records said the duo abused their former job at DHA as health inspectors, who were tasked to collect the vaccination fees’ revenues. Prosecutors said the defendants accessed DHA’s e-system and cancelled the paid fees, then issued forged receipts to make it seem like the fees were repaid to the travellers’. Then they embezzled the money.

A DHA internal auditor testified to prosecutors that the embezzlement was discovered after they were tipped off that a number of vaccination fees’ receipts had been cancelled in one of the health centres.

“An internal investigation revealed that the clinic’s nurses and doctors had given the vaccinations to the clients without cancelling them. There were hundreds of cancelled vaccinations costing between Dh50 and Dh200. The investigation unveiled that the suspects had unlawfully accessed the e-system and cancelled the transactions to embezzle the fees,” he claimed.

F.M.’s lawyer will present his defence when the court reconvenes on May 19.