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29 March 2024

Ministry staffer forged documents to get bank loan of Dh100,000

Published
By Eman Al Baik

The Dubai Court of Appeal upheld a sentence of two years imprisonment awarded by the lower court to an Egyptian former employee of the UAE Ministry of Economy for forging a bank statement and his salary certificate so as to be eligible for a Dh100,000 loan to pay off his debts.

According to the records, 38-year-old HA forged his salary certificate issued on behalf of the ministry by increasing his salary from Dh11,000 to Dh20,000. He also forged a bank statement to apply for a personal loan.

The Appeal Court also upheld the deportation order against the convict after serving his jail term.  

According to the records, in May 2013, AD, Indian salesman of a bank, said that he had contacted the ministry employee after obtaining his details from the customer database at the bank where he worked.

“I introduced myself as the bank’s representative and briefed him on our personal loan offer. I told him that the bank was willing to offer him a personal loan four times his salary.

"I explained to him that he did not produce a salary transfer certificate for the approval process. He expressed interest in applying for the loan and asked for needed documents. I asked him to provide me with a copy of his passport and Emirates ID in addition to a salary certificate and a statement of his current account which was with another bank. 

“The ministry employee emailed me the required documents and I filled in the application. On the following day, I met him at Deira City Centre where he signed on the application and handed me the original statement of his current bank,” said the bank’s salesman. 

However, the bank’s salesman suspected the ministry employee as the latter had not asked anything about the interest rate on the Dh100,000 loan, especially since the rate was much higher than that of the bank where he had his account.

“I informed my senior about my suspicions and he double checked the documents and found out that they were forged, so the loan was disapproved and police were informed,” the salesman told investigators.

Police arrested the ministry employee and confiscated a number of machines that he used to forge the documents.  A police lieutenant said the employee admitted to forging the documents, claiming that he needed the loan to pay off his debts. 

The Egyptian pleaded not guilty when he first appeared before the court.