3 bank employees face trial over $10m bribe

dubai — Three bank employees accused of accepting bribes worth $10 million (about Dh37million) in return for forging bank documents (facilities and security deposits) have stood trial at the Court of First Instance recently.

The bankers, including two Pakistanis and a Filipino, were believed to have sent the forged documents via e-mail to the addresses given to them by a Nigerian accomplice, who is at large.

The alleged dealings took place between June and November 2015. The main accused, a 33-year-old Pakistani, a commercial developer, is accused of forging 15 security deposits and falsely claiming they were issued by the bank. He filled the forms, signed them and sealed the bank’s stamp on them. The facilities given by him were for individuals and companies which did not have any entitlements thereto.

The four men were all charged in the Court of First Instance with accepting bribes, forgery and criminal complicity.

A Lebanese manager at the bank, who is in charge of running the internal probes and coordinating with the police, said the three bank staff forged certificates, together with the runaway accomplice, which they falsely claimed to be issued by the bank.

“The main defendant would receive the details from the runaway accomplice and accordingly fill in the forged bank forms which he would then sign and seal with the bank stamp. They sent the letters to different e-mail addresses. After sending the forged documents online, they would destroy the original copy.

“They were exposed on December 8, 2015, after we were contacted by our branch in South Africa. They wanted to check about a letter which was allegedly issued by our branch. But it turned out that letter was forged,” the manager told the prosecutor.

The bank’s British regional manager said that the commercial developer and the Filipino accused agreed with the runaway man to forge documents and use the fake copies in return for receiving $10 million. The runaway would provide them with the information and details to fill the forms with and the email addresses to which they would later send the forged documents.

A witness said during the investigation that the first accused would send the forged documents from his work email address and then delete the mail later to avoid being caught.