Daijiworld Media Network - Dubai (SHP)

Dubai, Jul 17: On Tuesday, a Dubai court accused an employee of a UAE bank of stealing AED 1.2 million from a customer’s account.

The accused, a 42-year-old Egyptian, stole a cheque from the victim of British origin, forged his signature only to transfer money from his account to a tourist company.

Once the British victim was notified about the withdrawal of the said amount from his account, he contacted the employee who provided assurance that the transaction was a mistake by the bank and that the victim would get the reversal as per bank’s reversal policy.

Couple of days passed and the victim noticed that the money did not return causing him to alert his bank. In the investigation conducted, it was found that the victim used to usually deal with the accused employee, to an extent where he would leave his cheque book and even mobile phone at his office. Further, a notebook was retrieved from the employee's office, which showcased several attempts made by the employee to forge the victim’s signature.

The investigation further revealed that the tourist company which the accused employee was siphoning off money to was doing business with him. The accused employee was responsible for providing them with low cost travel tickets through his friends in Dnata.

"The tourist company said that tickets worth AED 600,000 were cancelled by the provider and the accused employee deposited the cheque in their account to repay them. They took the money and gave him AED 400,000 and transferred AED 200,000 to a commercial company based on his request."

However, the accused employee left the country shortly after this scam. He was charged with stealing a cheque, illegally obtaining AED 1.2 million, forgery and using forged documents. A verdict in absentia is expected on July 30.