50-year-old charged with fraud

dubai — A female employee has allegedly defrauded her workplace of more than Dh375,000, the Court of first Instance has heard.

The ex-administrative employee at a laboratory embezzled the amount after she presented forged tuition fees, tenancy contracts and Dubai Water and Electricity Authority (Dewa) bills.

The 50-year-old Portuguese allegedly forged as many as 44 receipts which she falsely claimed were issued from Dewa by falsifying details in the copies like account holder’s name and number of the residential flat. She then presented the forged documents to the administration where she worked to claim the money.

She managed to collect Dh 32,383. She is also accused of forging as many as 40 receipts of tuition fees, which she falsely attributed to the school her children attended. Those receipts were worth Dh 123,475.

According to public prosecution records, she also submitted five forged tenancy contracts to her workplace, worth in total Dh215,500. She faced charges including fraud, forgery and use of forged documents in the Court of First Instance.

“We were running the internal audit in 2015 when we noticed some discrepancies in the payment receipts the accused submitted and alleged were issued from the school her children attended. She had been collecting refunds on their tuition fees. But some of the receipts had inconsistent serial numbers,” an internal auditor said.

According to the auditor, the defendant’s wrongdoings had been going on since 2010 and up to January 2016 and they lodged a complaint at Bur Dubai Police Station.