A bank's assistant manager has been handed a one-year jail sentence and ordered to pay more than Dh1.6 million after being caught embezzling hundreds of thousands of dirhams.
The Pakistani worker forged a cheque to the value of Dh635,000, putting his wife as the beneficiary, and pocketed more than Dh260,000 of client fees which he should have handed over to his employers.
The 31-year-old carried out the financial crimes at the bank in Al Muraqqabat, Dubai, between November, 2015 and April, 2017.
The man, who worked in the mortgage and property loans section of the bank, was arrested in June, 2017, after his offences were uncovered.
“He was responsible for registering property financed by the bank with Dubai’s Land Department under the names of our clients who had been granted mortgage loans,” said the head of counter fraud at the bank.
“Then he would register these properties with the developer before being handed the fees by the client, which he later should hand to the bank.”
It was found that the accused had instead kept the fees.
An investigation launched by the bank also revealed he had forged the signature on a cheque.
The fraudster was fined Dh828,000 and ordered to pay the same amount in compensation.
He is to be deported after serving the jail term, but has 15 days in which to lodge an appeal against the sentence.
