Carpenters deny stealing scrap from company

Dubai: Three carpenters have accused their employer of waging a malicious campaign against them, apparently because "they lodged a complaint against him at the Labour Ministry."

The Egyptian suspects said their employer wrongly blamed them for the theft of tonnes of scrap steel from the construction company they worked for.

The three pleaded not guilty, to the theft charges and handed a written waiver that they obtained from their employer when they appeared at the Dubai Court of First Instance.

The Public Prosecution charged the suspects, 42-year-old T.S., 37-year-old F.M. and 27-year-old M.M., who are on bail, with pocketing Dh20,000, the amount they allegedly obtained, after selling the four tonnes of steel.

A 29-year-old Egyptian partner, who owns shares in the same company, testified that four Bangladeshi workers informed him that the suspects had been stealing steel scrap from one of the company's sites.

A Bangladeshi carpenter, J.R., testified in his statement: "I saw the suspects collecting the steel in consignments, weighing 10 kilogrammes each, over different periods. Then they would sell them at Dh500 for each consignment, to a fourth suspect in one of the company's sites in Nad Al Hamr area." Records said police arrested the suspects later.

"Our employer brought this malicious complaint against us because we lodged a complaint against him at the Ministry of Labour," argued T.S. when he defended himself in court. A verdict will be delivered soon.