Dubai: A travel consultant was jailed on Wednesday for six months for forging two e-visas and emailing them to a woman and her mother, who had planned to visit Dubai last year.
The 25-year-old Filipina consultant, C.C., who worked as a travel consultant for a tourism agency, forged two electronic tourism visas and sent them by email to her countrywoman, D.R., then embezzled their cost of Dh6,100 in December.
The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted C.C. of forging the tourism visa applications and embezzling the revenues from the agency.
Last week, the accused was jailed for six months in another case in which she was convicted of embezzling Dh64,000 by forging electronic tourism visas and sending them by email to potential tourists, before embezzling the costs in January.
She had confessed [in the other case] that she printed out a number of authentic tourist visa forms [obtained from Dubai’s General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs online system], made photocopies and tampered with the tourists’ details on them before sending them to potential tourists.
According to Wednesday’s ruling, presiding judge Urfan Omar said the accused will be deported following the completion of her jail term. The forged documents will be confiscated.
D.R. said she visited the travel agency where she met C.C. and applied for two visas to fly her mother and sister to Dubai.
“I asked her to book two-way tickets for my mother and sister and to issue them visit visas. I provided her with the documents that she requested and paid her Dh6,100. In January, the defendant emailed me photocopies of the visas and claimed that she sent the original to the Philippines,” she claimed.
C.C. admitted to prosecutors that she forged the visas and kept the money for herself.
As per the two primary rulings against her, C.C. will have to spend a total of one year behind bars before she is deported.
Wednesday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
