Man jailed for forging his own death certificate to avoid repaying Dubai bank loan
Father and wife of defendant also jailed and fined for assisting in fraud
Dubai: A man who forged his own death certificate to avoid repaying a Dh700,000 bank loan has been jailed for five years and fined the same amount as the loan, a Dubai court ruled on Sunday.
The 50-year-old Emirati managed to obtain a forged death certificate in Yemen and got it attested in the UAE Embassy. His father then used the forged certificate to close a bank loan in Dubai.
The father was also sentenced to one year in jail and fined Dh700,000 for assisting in the fraud.
The main defendant travelled to Yemen in May 2008 to avoid paying back the loan. Later, his father travelled to Yemen and returned with his son’s forged death certificate, which he presented to the bank to close the loan.
Meanwhile, the defendant’s Emirati wife used the certificate to get monthly assistance for their children.
The wife received Dh1.1 million from the UAE Ministry of Community Development until the scam was discovered in 2019. She was sentenced to three months in jail and fined Dh1.1 million.
In October 2018, the defendant left Yemen and tried to sneak into Oman but was arrested there and stayed behind bars for five months before he was handed over to UAE authorities.
According to Dubai Public Prosecution, the defendant admitted that he left the country in 2008, and lost his money in a failed investment before asking his uncle in the Radaa area of Yemen to issue a forged death certificate.
The defendant confessed that his 67-year-old Emirati father travelled to Yemen to take the death certificate and got it attested in the country before handing it over to the bank.
“I used to establish contact through text messages until October 2018 when I was arrested on the Omani border,” the defendant said during investigation.
An Emirati policeman said: “He used the documents to erase the bank loan and the family used to get financial aid every month.”
According to prosecution, the father used to travel to Yemen from 2003 until 2014.
A report from the ministry confirmed that the wife got monthly assistance since 2008.
The Emirati defendant was charged with forgery, his father was charged with using the forged documents and abetting a crime, and the wife was charged with using the forged documents to obtain financial assistance.