Salesman on trial for sending friend to take medical test

dubai — A Nigerian salesman, who has hepatitis and asked his friend to take the medical fitness test on his behalf, has been charged with aiding and abetting in the forgery of an official document.

Public prosecution records show the 36-year-old man asked his runaway friend to impersonate him when visiting the fitness centre in Al Muhaisna, Al Qusais, to help him pass the tests needed as part of visa procedure.

The salesman was arrested on November 21, 2016, one day after his friend’s attempt failed to help him because the centre employees spotted the difference in the men’s appearances.

The salesman faced a charge of aiding and abetting in the forgery of an official document (test application form) in the Court of First Instance. According to prosecution documents, he gave the test application form, which bore his personal details, to the runaway accomplice so he could take the medical tests on his behalf. The runaway accused did in fact take the blood test and had the sample enclosed to the form in the defendant’s name. The runaway accomplice tried to do the same when going for the X-ray test in vain.

An Indian employee at the radiology section at the medical fitness centre said that another man visited the centre and wanted to undergo the tests on behalf of the defendant on November 20, 2016.

“My colleague checked the photo on the application form and found it to look totally different from the person standing in front of him. He asked for our opinions and we had the same to say. However, the man claimed the photo was taken a long time ago at a time when he used to be fat. We told him to go and come back with his recently taken photos so he could go for the X-ray test.”