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28 March 2024

UAE bank recovers money from defaulters… but its own staff steals it later

Dh4m stolen from money exchange recovered. (SALEM KHAMIS)

Published
By Eman Al Baik

A UAE bank managed to recover money from a defaulter who had fled to her home country but the lender’s staff stole the recovered money.

NTF, 39, Jordanian, has been accused of stealing over one million dirhams from the bank during his association with the bank from 2009 to 2011, the Dubai Criminal Court heard.

The court records showed that the bank employee allegedly stole money by not depositing installments paid by the debtors themselves and private debt collection companies.

An Egyptian complained that she was made to pay her credit card loan of Dh4,800 twice. Once she paid via the debt collection company in Egypt and again through a person she had authorised in Dubai. She wanted to close the credit card issue and obtain ‘murabaha’ car loan from the same bank.

The man who was authorised by the lady to complete the payments found that the credit card amount is still due to the bank, so he paid Dh5,420 again to close that file in order to proceed with the murabaha loan.

The bank investigated the complaint and checked with NTF who was responsible for the companies assigned by the bank to collect debts.

NTF, who was in Jordan on annual leave, blamed employees of the company in Egypt for failing to transfer the amount to the bank. However, he failed to give specific names. The bank corresponded with the company and realised that NTF had actually received money, prompting the bank to initiate investigations, testified the bank’s legal consultant AAA, 30, Egyptian.

NTF later confessed to stealing money after he was confronted by employees of the other company.

It was found that NTF had failed to deposit more than Dh1 million with the bank collected from different clients.

SIM, 34, Egyptian, deputy manager of the debt collection company, testified that he had supplied the bank with a list of people and amount collected by his company in 2011 and the money was transferred to the bank with the receipts which carried the bank’s employee signature.

“I do not have any idea whether the accused had deposited the amounts in the bank or not,” he testified.

Other bank employees repeated similar testimonies. The local bank, however, was not identified.

The court will reconvene on November 18.