Dubai A female student and a banker have been jailed for one year each for conspiring with an absconding woman to defraud a bank and embezzle Dh2.7 million using forged papers.
The 33-year-old Emirati woman student and the 37-year-old Palestinian banker collaborated with the absconder in forging a salary certificate and a salary transfer certificate of the Interior Ministry, passport copy and other papers in May 2014.
The student, fugitive and the banker then conspired against the bank when they opened a bank account in the name of the runaway woman, applied for a personal loan and embezzled Dh2.7 million.
When the bank discovered that the papers had been forged and that the absconder had lied about being an employee at the Interior Ministry, the management reported to the police about the swindling and deception.
On Wednesday, the Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the 33-year-old and the 37-year-old defendant of forging papers, submitting them to the bank and defrauding the bank of Dh2.7 million.
The defendants pleaded not guilty and refuted the accusations when they appeared in court.
Presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi sentenced the student in absentia.
The Palestinian accused will be deported after serving his jail term.
The defendants and fugitive forged papers that they attributed to the ministry, forged three cheques, opened a bank account using the forged papers and embezzled the bank’s money after they applied for a personal loan.
A police lieutenant said primary interrogations revealed that the absconder posed as a ministry employee who takes home a salary of Dh136,000.
“The defendants forged the papers and the 33-year-old visited the bank and posed as the absconder … then she provided the bank with a certificate stating that she gets a salary of Dh136,000. Then they opened a bank account, after which the 33-year-old applied for a personal loan of Dh2.7 million. Later, it was discovered that the papers obtained from the ministry were forged. Further investigation revealed that the 33-year-old had purchased two cars in cash and registered them in her name,” the lieutenant testified.
The bank’s Lebanese manager testified that the banker told her that a client [female defendant] had applied for a loan worth Dh2.7 million.
“The 37-year-old claimed to me that the loan applicant worked in the ministry and her salary is Dh136,000. The next day she visited the bank to finish her loan transaction … she wore a niqab [face cover]. I invited her to my office and asked her to remove her niqab to double check her identity and ensure that she was the same applicant [whose photo was on the copy of the passport submitted with the papers]. When I realised that it is the same person, I signed the papers,” the manager said.
The primary ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
