Bank manager gets five-year jail for Dh26m embezzlement from customer’s account

dubai — A bank branch manager, who embezzled Dh26 million from the account of a customer after forging forms, has been sentenced by the Court of First Instance to five years in jail.

The 32-year-old Emirati manager abused his powers at the bank to forge money transfer forms and cheques on several occasions over a span of four years, in the name of the Emirati account holder and fake his signatures on the documents. The court ordered him to pay a Dh26 million fine.

His Emirati accomplice (who is an administrative officer, 30) opened two accounts at another bank to which he transferred the huge sums he embezzled. Both faced forgery, embezzlement, fraud and money laundering charges. The accomplice, who has been sentenced to three years in jail, was only cleared of the embezzlement charge.

The complaint was registered at Al Rashidiya police station.

The holder of the account, an Emirati retiree, 55, said the first accused was managing his accounts at the bank. “I did not fill in or sign any money transfer forms from my account to any other account. I did not issue any cheques. I did not tell that manager to do any such transactions on my behalf.”

A senior legal consultant at the bank said the branch manager embezzled in total Dh26 million from the complainant’s account from November 2010 to July 2014.

“He changed the complainant’s mobile number and his P O Box in the branch’s files. He also kept him in the dark on essential information like statements of account and SMS alerts. He then issued cheque books in the complainant’s name. He made four money transfer transactions from his account to the account of his accomplice totaling Dh1.9 million,” the consultant said.

“He handed his accomplice a cheque worth Dh3.8 million. He transferred Dh11 million later from the same account to another account. The branch manager faked the account holder’s signature and wrote the complainant’s mobile number on 46 cheques, worth a total of Dh8.5 million, he falsely claimed were issued by him,” the witness stated.

During investigation, it became clear the new mobile number which was used by the manager belonged to an Emirati trader and was used by his wife. “I don’t know either the defendant or the victim. I don’t have any idea how my wife’s number was used in the victim’s file at the bank,” the 60-year-old trader said.

The new P.O.Box number belongs to a pest control company. “We don’t have any accounts at that bank. However, envelopes from the branch were constantly sent to us. I never opened them because they were not sent to me or my company,” a 46-year-old Indian businessman told the police, adding the name on the envelopes was the victim’s.