Dubai: A man who forged his own death certificate to close a Dh700,000 bank loan went on trial at Dubai Court of First Instance on Sunday.
According to official records, the 50-year-old Emirati defendant managed to obtain a forged death certificate in Yemen and got it stamped in the UAE embassy. His father then used the forged certificate to close the bank loan in Dubai.
In May 2008, the Emirati man travelled to Yemen to avoid the payment of Dh700,000 personal loan. Later, his father travelled to Yemen and returned with the forged death certificate of his son and presented it to the local bank in Dubai to close the loan account.
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.
In October 2018, the defendant left Yemen and tried to sneak into Oman but he was arrested there and stayed behind bars for five months before he was handed over to UAE.
According to Dubai Public Prosecution, the defendant admitted that he left the country in 2008, and lost his money in an investment before asking his uncle at Radaa area in 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.
