Dubai: A waiter has been jailed for three months for a bid to defraud a bank of Dh250,000 by applying for a personal loan using forged papers.

An Indian bank’s public relations officer [PRO] was contacted by his 30-year-old countryman waiter who wanted to apply for a personal loan of Dh250,000 in May.

When the public relations officer informed his boss about the defendant’s loan query, he was warned about dealing with the 30-year-old man.

The PRO and the waiter met in a mall in Al Karama, where the accused provided the banker several papers and signed the bank application form for the loan and a credit card.

The accused was apprehended by the police once it was revealed that the papers he had submitted for processing the loan application were forged.

On Thursday, the Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the defendant of attempting to embezzle Dh250,000 from the bank by using forged papers.

Records said the accused had collaborated with two others, who remain at large, in forging a Dubai Municipality salary certificate, a bank statement and a residency stamp to apply for the bank loan.

Presiding judge Urfan Omar said the accused, who pleaded not guilty, will be deported.

The defendant argued in court that he did not forge any papers.

“The runaways forged the documents. They handed me an envelope full of papers and asked me to give it to the bank’s representative … they arrested me once they discovered that the papers were forged. I had nothing to do with the forgery,” he told the presiding judge.

Upon confronting him with the signed application and residency stamp, the suspect contended: “I signed the application but I was not aware that the documents were forged. The passport is mine but one of the runaways forged the residency sticker … not me.”

The PRO testified that the accused called him and claimed to have obtained his contact number from a friend.

“He said he wanted to apply for a personal loan of Dh250,000. I told him about the required documents, but my supervisor told me that the bank has doubts concerning the applicant [defendant]. When I met him in the mall, he provided me with a bank statement, the salary certificate and a photocopy of his passport and residence visa. Then he signed the loan application and a security cheque. Police later raided his house and arrested the accused as the papers turned out to be forged,” said the PRO.

Thursday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.