Dubai banker ‘stole Dh900,000 from employer using altered documents’

Pakistani allegedly forged a signature on a cheque and changed the beneficiary to his wife, in addition to other offences.

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An assistant bank manager is accused of pocketing almost Dh900,000 after altering documents and using them, heard Dubai Criminal Court on Wednesday.

The defendant, 31, who was not present in court, is charged with embezzlement, forgery and use of forged documents.

The offences were said to have occurred between November 2015 and April 2017 at the bank’s branch in Al Muraqqabat.

The Pakistani accused allegedly embezzled Dh896,742 from the bank after forging signatures on a cheque to be cashed in favour of his wife and committing other offences.

The accused, who was assistant manager at the mortgage and property loans section, was arrested on June 7 after the incident came to light through an internal bank investigation.

“He is responsible for registering property that is financed by the bank with Dubai Land Department under the names of the clients who have been granted a mortgage loan by the bank, then [he] would register them with the developer before he is handed the fees by the client,” said the 35-year-old head of fraud prevention at the bank.

The Indian added that none of the fees the defendant received from clients were handed to the bank, and the clients’ properties were not registered.

“We started investigating and we discovered that he illegally obtained fees amounting to Dh261,742,” he said.

During the bank probe, he said they also discovered that on November 7, 2015 he had forged signatures on a cheque worth Dh635,000 and changed the beneficiary to his wife’s name before cashing the cheque.

The defendant was not present in court.

A verdict will be given on August 27.