Thursday, Jul 30, 2015
Dubai A health coordinator has been jailed for six months for forging 9,159 receipts of health card renewals and embezzling more than Dh1.26 million from her company within eight years.
The 55-year-old Filipina, D.M., started working as a nurse at a famous hotel in Dubai before she was appointed as a health coordinator who was tasked to handle the employees’ health files and issues in 2007.
The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted D.M. of tampering with the 9,159 receipts of renewing employees’ health cards by changing the fees from Dh110 to Dh210 between November 2007 and March 2015 and embezzling around Dh1.26 million.
The defendant entered a not guilty plea and refuted her accusations which she described by unfounded and denied tampering with the dates and fees mentioned on the receipts.
The 55-year-old will be deported following the completion of her punishment.
The hotel’s Egyptian auditing manager said the embezzlement was discovered when D.M. produced two receipts of two employees who had resigned in November 2014.
“When she submitted those two suspicious receipts, we carried out an inventory and discovered receipts that had been replicated. She had submitted photocopies of receipts to renew health cards for the same employee more than once at Dubai Municipality’s [DM] clinic. She admitted that she had forged photocopies of receipts and embezzled money. Upon confrontation, she said she tampered with names and cost of fees and changed employees’ photos. When I checked with DM’s clinic I found out that they had not changed the cost from Dh110 to Dh210. The inventory revealed that D.M. had embezzled more than Dh1.26 million between 2007 and 2015. While the accused was being cross-examined, she claimed that the municipality did not provide her with original receipts but only photocopies … she also claimed that DM had started renewing health cards twice per year,” the auditing manager claimed.
Records said the health coordinator admitted she had pocketed Dh500,000 only.
The primary ruling remains subject to appeal within 13 days.
By Bassam Zaza Legal and Court ?Correspondent
Gulf News 2015. All rights reserved.
