Dubai: A merchant has been cleared of forging a Dubai World Ports document, promoting a driver's job to a supervisor and increasing his salary to obtain a British student visa for his son.
The Dubai Court of First Instance on Thursday acquitted the 38-year-old Pakistani merchant of forging a salary certificate and submitting it to the visa section at the British Embassy, for lack of evidence.
"It is not true… that's absolutely untrue. I didn't forge any document. I signed an agreement with other man [45-year-old M.Z.] and he is the one who filled in the details. He is the one who submitted the document and the visa application. As per the signed agreement, he is the one who bears the responsibility. I am not responsible for any tampered information," argued 38-year-old M.A. when he defended himself in court.
Upgrading job, salary
Prosecutors charged the suspect of forging a salary certificate [from Dh6,000 to Dh12,000] and tampering with the details by upgrading the 45-year-old Pakistani applicant's job description from driver to supervisor and submitting the document to the British Embassy to obtain a student visa for his son.
An Emirati employee at Dubai World Ports testified that the forgery was discovered after a British Embassy employee phoned him to check the details on M.Z.'s visa application.
"Ten days later M.A. asked me to with my son to the British Embassy… then he came and handed the papers to my son who submitted the papers to the visa counsellor and paid Dh500. Five days later, my company informed me what happened and that the salary certificate was forged."
Discrepancy
"When we realized the discrepancy in the salary and job description, I asked her to send me the original document. It turned out to be forged. I summoned M.Z. and he alleged to me when he received the document from our company, the salary was Dh6,000," the employee told prosecutors.
"He didn't mention anything about the rest of the details. He told me that he handed the document to an administrative consultation company that handled the visa application. I reported the matter to the police,"
