Four men to repay Dh1m to Dubai Ports World

Four men men were sentenced to a year in prison after being found guilty of charges ranging from embezzlement and bribery to fraud and forgery.

Powered by automated translation

DUBAI // Two Dubai Ports World employees and two other men were sentenced to a year in prison and ordered to repay a combined Dh1 million (US$272,000) after being found guilty of charges ranging from embezzlement and bribery to fraud and forgery. The four men, all Indians, were accused of embezzling Dh950,000 by presenting fake documents and tenders. They are SS, 38, an employee at DP World's technical division; MM, 29, another DP World employee; BT, 37, an engineer; and SM, 46, a pharmacist,

SS also confessed to accepting a Dh5,000 bribe to allow a maintenance company to win a contract with DP World, and to offering a Dh39,800 bribe to MM to overlook his duties and not to submit certain reports. The other suspects, BT and SM, denied accusations of cheating DP World and embezzling Dh350,000. The case was filed in Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance in March 2008 after an engineer learnt from the company's audit department that the suspects were misappropriating money.

Court records show that DP World's legal consultant, Abdullah Khamis, told prosecutors that when the company discovered the suspected incident, SS repaid Dh103,000 and MM repaid Dh39,000. The court ordered SS to repay Dh950,000, MM Dh5,000 and BT Dh38,900, and SM was ordered to pay a Dh38,900 fine. amustafa@thenational.ae