Sunday, Apr 07, 2013
Dubai: An ex-employee at Dubai’s General Directorate for Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) has been accused of abusing his office, forging 10,423 transactions and embezzling Dh5 million between January 2011 and July 2012.
The 38-year-old Omani suspect was said to have abused his former job as a data entry operator at the General Directorate in Dubai, according to prosecution records, and embezzled Dh5 million after forging entry permits of expatriate residents who stayed abroad for more than six months.
“That did not happen at all. I did not forge or embezzle anything,” argued 38-year-old A.A. when he defended himself before the Dubai Court of First Instance.
“Why did you confess during police and prosecution questioning then?” presiding judge Maher Salama Al Mahdi asked the defendant.
“Not at all. I did not confess. I am not guilty. They locked me up from 8am and coerced me to sign on papers without allowing me to read what I was signing. I was not allowed to go out until I was coerced to sign those papers without being informed about their contents,” replied A.A. in courtroom seven.
Prosecutors said the defendant forged entry permits for 10,423 residents, who had stayed outside the UAE for over six months. Then he collected the fees and, instead of depositing the amount in GDRFA’s accounts, he embezzled around Dh5 million between January 1, 2011 and July 24, 2012.
A.A.’s advocate Nasser Malallah asked the court to adjourn the case to present his defence and hear prosecution witnesses.
A Pakistani aviation engineer testified that he went to GDRFA wanting three entry permits for his family because they had stayed abroad for over six months.
“The front desk receptionist directed me to A.A.’s counter. He asked me to pay Dh1,500 to process the permits. One of the entries turned out to be doubled…when I repaid them a visit, A.A. was away. The other employee asked me for the receipts, but I informed him that A.A. did not give me any. However they issued a new permit. A few days later, I was asked to go to GDRFA where I was told that the entry was forged. I identified A.A. when they asked me who was the operator who granted me the permits,” claimed the engineer.
Several other witnesses claimed during prosecution questioning that A.A. issued entry permits which turned out to be forged.
An Emirati policeman, who questioned A.A., said the latter denied forging the transactions at first but later confessed to doing so after confronting him with the findings.
The court reconvenes on April 24.
By Bassam Zaza Legal and Court Correspondent
Gulf News 2013. All rights reserved.
