Man in dock over fake fitness paper

dubai — A Hepatitis B patient accused of submitting a fake medical fitness certificate for stamping his residence visa and getting an Emirates ID stood trial at the Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance.

The Bangladeshi man told the court that he feared deportation because of his infection. Eighty people — 76 men and four women — are on trial for forging medical fitness certificates for the residence visa process, without having undergone the official medical tests.

The Asian defendants allegedly obtained the fake documents from brokers, also charged in the case, who took between Dh1,200 and Dh2,000 for issuing medical fitness letters to people with infectious diseases.

Prosecutors said the defendants had forged medical fitness certificate papers and medical fitness centre stamps and sold them to dozens of workers. During the third session, where all the defendants appeared, the court heard 16 men but only one admitted to the charge.

The Bangladeshi worker said he met a man at the medical test centre, who promised to get him the medical fitness certificate. “I gave him money for the medical fitness tests, my photo and passport copy.”

The worker said that the following day, the man handed him the medical fitness ‘report’ and asked him not to tell anyone that he’s the one who gave it to him.

Prosecutors charged the defendantswithforgingofficialdocuments while the brokers were charged with issuing fake documents and taking money from people. The majority of the defendants denied the charge.

Prosecutors said that an employee of the Emirates Identity Authority had suspected the medical fitness certificate he received from an Asian woman. Authorities made an investigation into the matter and found out that the fitness certificate submitted by the woman was a forged one. This led to the arrest of other people who had submitted fake documents. The trial was adjourned until May.

ismail@khaleejtimes.com