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29 March 2024

DNRD employee on trial for Dh1 million scam

Published
By Eman Al Baik

An Omani employee at the Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department (DNRD) allegedly exploited his position and took for himself a total of more than Dh1m in government fees during a period of about a year and a half, the Dubai Criminal Court heard.

AAB, 38, is accused by the prosecution of issuing a total of 10,423 entry permissions to expatriate residents who had stayed out of the country for more than six months and collected from applicants a total of Dh1,074,300 which should have gone to the DNRD.

The fraud was discovered when a father of two sons applied to the department to get entry permissions for his wife and two sons who had lived outside the UAE for more than the permitted six months and the accused by mistake issued two permits with the name of one of the two sons.

“I visited the department on July 1, 2012, to obtain entry permissions for my wife LSM and my two sons MAK and MSK who hold valid residence visas but stayed outside the UAE for more than six months. I approached the receptionist who guided me to the counter. The employee in charge told me that I have to pay Dh500 per person, a total of Dh1,500. When I asked him where I should pay the fines, he said I should pay it to him. I paid him the fees and received the three permissions after he signed and stamped them,” testified MAK, a 39-year-old Pakistani aviation engineer.

On the following day, when his family arrived from Australia, he submitted the three permissions to the DNRD counter at Dubai International Airport. “The employee found out that there were two permissions that had the same name so it was not possible to allow the entry of my other son. We had to wait at the airport for about five hours to get this problem solved, on conditon that I should approach the DNRD’s counter where I obtained the permission.

“When I visited the department there was an employee other than the one who had processed the applications. I showed him the two permissions I had got from the DNRD that carried the name of one of my sons and told him our problem. The employee asked me for the payment receipts but I did not have any as the employee did not issue me any receipt for the money I gave him,” he testified.

Corporal Khalid Mohammed reported the incident to his senior on July 5, 2012. The client identified the employee who had collected the money from him when he was shown pictures of DNRD staff who work at the counters.

When confronted with the client’s complaint, AAB initially denied doing any wrong, claiming that someone else could have used his user code to log in to the electronic system. AAB continued his work normally while the department was investigating the case.

“We asked the statistic section to supply us with statements of all transactions executed for entry permits to residents who had stayed more than six months overseas. Officials also asked the finance section to supply with fee collection statements for entry permit applications executed by AAB. The section was also asked to report if their applications had been processed by AAB and their fees were not deposited in the department’s bank account.

“The section reported that the AAB processed a total of 14,755 transactions from January 1, 2011 to July 24, 2012. He deposited about Dh1.5 million, fees of about 4,000 transactions while he failed to deposit Dh5,074,300 in fees of more than 10,000 transactions.

“The department contacted some of those whose application fees were not deposited with the bank. YKN, a 35-year-old Pakistani veterinary doctor testified that he visited DNRD to obtain entry permit for his son who had stayed outside the UAE for about a year,” Corporal Khalid Mohammed testified.

“I approached the counter employee and submitted the application and he asked me to pay Dh1,000 directly to him and if I don’t do that, I will not get the entry permission. I paid him the amount and he printed the permission letter after signing and stamping it with a seal in his possession. On the day of my son’s arrival in Dubai, I submitted the permission at the airport and my son was allowed entry into the country,” YKN testified.

YKN recognised the employee who had issued him the permission when he was shown pictures of DNRD staff. The employee was AAB.

KSS, 37 Indian manager, also approached the same employee to obtain three entry permits for his wife, son and daughter and paid him in hand Dh1,500. KSS recognised the employee when shown to him at the counter.

IAK, 47, Egyptian businessman, testified that he approached AAB for issuing five entry permits for his family members. He received the permissions after paying the fees to AAB.

Other clients testified that AAB had also reduced the amount of the fees for them.

AAA testified that the employee at the counter told him that the fees from his family members is Dh3,000. He then reduced it to Dh2,000 which he paid to AAB.

When DNRD confronted the employee with these facts, he admitted to taking for himself around Dh5,000 to Dh8,000 every day.  The department referred the accused to the Prosecution. Investigators heard the testimonies of six applicants who paid entry permit fees into the hands to the accused.

The court will reconvene on April 24

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