Dubai: A police officer who forged a sick leave certificate so he could go on a three-day holiday to Lebanon was handed a three-month suspended imprisonment.
The 27-year-old police officer forged a government hospital’s sick leave form and gave it to Dubai Police (where he worked) against ‘sick leave’ he took while holidaying in Beirut during January 2011.
The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the officer of forgery and sentenced him to three months in jail.
Citing grounds of leniency, the court suspended the imprisonment for three years [during which the crime should not be repeated].
The defendant entered a not guilty plea contending that he did not forge the form or the hospital’s stamp, but admitted to using the form.
“I took it from a hospital in Sharjah, but I had no clue that it was forged,” he told the court.
A police major testified that the defendant went on sick leave in January 2011 and the forgery was discovered later.
“My duty at Dubai Police’s search and inspection unit requires me check forms and justify whether personnel were sick at the time when they applied for sick leave. When I checked the defendant’s form, I realised that he had been out of the country on dates that overlapped with the dates when he claimed to be sick. Dubai International Airport’s entry/exit registry revealed that he travelled to Lebanon between January 2 and 7. When questioned, he admitted that he had gone to Beirut and asked someone to get him a sick leave form. The defendant claimed that he collected the leave form when he returned and handed it to his superiors to justify his absence. He claimed that he obtained the leave form from a government hospital,” the major said.
Records said the defendant did not have a medical file at the government hospital and that the form was forged.
The ruling remains subject to appeal within 12 days.
