Tuesday, Jun 30, 2015
Dubai: Five men have been accused of defrauding etisalat of more than Dh842,000 in mobile and internet bills and smartphone packages and data bundles using more than 300 forged applications.
The five suspects — three Egyptians, a Filipino and an Iranian — were said to have forged hundreds of applications to sell smartphone packages and data bundles worth around Dh574,000 and make bills worth around Dh268,000 between October 2013 and July 2014.
The suspects were said to have forged the applications under names of phoney clients using photocopies of Emirates IDs, passports, credit cards, salary and other certificates.
A Filipino salesman, A.R., and a 37-year-old Egyptian driver, A.M., were considered public employees as they worked for a company affiliated with etisalat based at Dubai International Airport.
Prosecutors accused A.R., A.M., and two Egyptians, 29-year-old A.F., a clerk, and 32-year-old driver, O.M., with forging etisalat applications to sell iPhones 4, 5 and 6 and Samsung phones along with data bundles and internet connections as well as using the forged documents. They were accused of embezzling more than Dh842,000 from etisalat.
According to prosecution records, A.R. abused the authority granted to him and accessed the etisalat system to register each application in the name of a phoney client to sell smartphones plus data bundles at rates cheaper than the market price.
A.M. was the one who provided the Filipino salesman with tens of forged documents to get the smartphones from the warehouse and sell them in the market. The Filipino suspect was also accused of accessing five of his colleagues’ systems unlawfully to register a long list of the forged applications.
Records said when A.M. [who remains at large] left Dubai, he contacted A.R. from Egypt and asked him to communicate with A.F. and O.M. to continue doing what they had been reportedly doing.
The 27-year-old Iranian vendor, I.A., who worked for a mobile phone store, was accused of aiding and abetting the four other defendants by selling the smartphones.
Prosecutors said he possessed 100 devices of iPhone 5 and sold them at his workplace.
A.R. was the only defendant who pleaded guilty before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Tuesday.
He confessed before presiding judge Shaikha Hamad to different counts of forgery, embezzlement, abusing his public work and fraud.
All the remaining suspects [except for A.M. who has absconded] pleaded not guilty and denied all their accusations.
“I refute all my accusations … A.M. is the one who forged all the papers and possessed the phones before he absconded. When we shared the same accommodation, he used my laptop without my knowledge and forged the papers,” A.F. told presiding judge Shaikha.
O.M. said: “I do not work for etisalat and did not participate in this crime or forge any paper.”
An etisalat executive testified to prosecutors that A.R. abused the authority granted to him to access the system and key in the details of the forged applications of phoney clients to sell the smartphones and data bundles.
A police lieutenant claimed to prosecutors that A.R. was the first to be arrested followed by the rest.
The trial continues.
By Bassam Zaza Legal and Court ?Correspondent
Gulf News 2015. All rights reserved.
