Dubai: A manager at a cleaning company in Dubai has been accused of embezzling more than Dh750,000 from his employers.
The Dubai Criminal Court heard that the 31-year-old manager from Eritrea scammed the company’s owner between 2018 and 2019 by forging work contracts of 17 cleaners, until a Chinese businesswoman became partner in the company and discovered the embezzlement. The 38-year-old Chinese businesswoman met the defendant at the company’s offices in Al Rashidiya, but he refused to work with her. “I became a partner in the company, but he refused to deal with me. He tried to take the passports of all the employees, but I stopped him,” the woman said on record.
During a meeting with her staff of 36 employees, she discovered that they were being paid salaries that were different from the figures mentioned in their contracts. So, when she showed the employees their contracts, they said they had never seen or signed them.
“I reviewed the company’s documents and records and discovered that the company’s income was not being deposited in its account.” She added that she also discovered that in 2018, the defendant had opened a company of his own for cleaning services and was sending employees from her company to work for his company without their knowledge.
“The defendant’s contract was forged to make his salary Dh20,000 instead of Dh1,500,” she added.
The businesswoman’s Saudi partner, 45, had to come to the UAE when he learned about the incident and discovered that his company had incurred fines because of the defendant’s violations. “I bought the company in 2016 and promoted the defendant from a cleaner to a manager. I handed him the authority for electronic signature and a power of attorney as well in order to run the business in my absence,” said the Saudi owner on record.
Investigations revealed that an Emirati man who worked for Tasheel service had helped the defendant forge his work contract and the contracts of 17 other employees of the company. Another man, an Eritrean, who is still at large, worked with the defendant at the company and helped with the scam.
The three defendants were charged with forgery and the main defendant was additionally charged with embezzling and illegally obtaining money and electronics items, including an iPad and mobile phones, worth Dh764,523.
The next hearing is scheduled for February 11.
