Trio swindle Dh3m from armed forces’ bank account

dubai — Two Tunisian men allegedly embezzled more than Dh3 million from the account of the armed forces at a local bank after forging cheques to the benefit of some trading firms belonging to their accomplices.

The Dubai Court of First Instance heard the two men, including an unemployed man and a sales manager in their thirties, gave the forged cheques to a Bangladeshi, a German and an Egyptian to deposit them in their corporate accounts via an ATM.

The two Tunisians were allegedly in the process of embezzling another Dh3.4 million using the same fraudulent method. Their Bangladeshi accomplice deposited a forged cheque of Dh3.4 million in his trading firm’s bank account to cash it later. But the operation was rejected and halted by the bank administration.

The case dates back to January 2017. The three, all businessmen, are facing charges of aiding and abetting the main defendants in the embezzlement and forgery crimes. The trio are believed to have helped the main accused by giving them details of their corporate bank accounts so that the cheques could be deposited in those accounts. They cashed the amounts and handed them to the two Tunisians. They got commissions of five to 10 per cent of the embezzled amounts.

Two other businessmen (a Tunisian, 51, and a Bangladeshi, 38) are also charged in the case — one for sheltering the accused and helping them escape by transporting them and hiding them in his flat, where the accused were arrested. The other businessman is accused of failing to report the wanted men to authorities. “After sending the bank (the plaintiff) a copy of one of the cheques deposited by one of the accused in an ATM on January 31, the other bank sent us a letter that the cheque was forged,” the legal representative of the bank, where the accused deposited the cheques, told the prosecutor.

mary@khaleejtimes.com