Marriage certificate forged for UAE visit visa

A clerk allegedly forged the attestation seals and stamps for a marriage certificate of a client seeking bringing his wife into the UAE on a visit visa.

BDA, 32, Indian, is accused of forging the seals of the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Sharjah office and the UAE embassy in India. He is also accused of forging two official stamps of Dh100 value and using the forged documents.

Yousuf Ahmad, Emirati employee at the Ministry of the Interior in Dubai, testified that on November 24, 2011 a person called Elias handed over an attested marriage certificate to him.

“Checking the stamps and seals, I found out that they were forged. When I asked him for his ID, he presented it but said that the documents are not his. I asked him to ask the applicant to come personally and notified my senior who informed the police. Police arrived and arrested the two men,” he testified.

MS testified that he had handed the marriage certificate to a clerk for attestation by authorities back home and the UAE to be able to bring his wife on a visit visa. The clerk asked for Dh350 as the fee for attesting the certificate.

“After about two weeks, he handed me the attested marriage certificate. He asked for Dh150 for attestation of the certificate by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Dubai. 

I paid him the amount and prepared a visa application for my wife and gave him all the documents. 

"An hour later, I called him to ask him about the application. He asked me to contact someone called Elias whose mobile number he gave me. I called Elias who asked me to come to the ministry’s office in Dubai where I was arrested,” testified MS.

Elias testified that BDA had asked him in December 2011 to submit a visa application for the wife of MS. The application included a marriage certificate which carried the stamps and seals of the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“Since it required attestation by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I approached the ministry’s Dubai’s office where the employee told me that the seals were forged.

"I called BDA as requested by the ministry’s employees, but he did not answer my calls,” he testified.

The prosecution dropped the charges against MS and Elias because of lack of evidence.

The court will give its verdict on January 15.

Image from shutterstock

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