Civil servant swindles Dh3m from scholarships

An Arab employee swindled more than Dh3 million from a government department supervising education scholarships abroad for Emiratis and managed to flee the UAE before his crime was discovered, the press reported on Tuesday.

The unnamed employee was sentenced in absentia by an Abu Dhabi court to 10 years in jail and ordered to return Dh3.178 million he had swindled.

The court also fined him an equal sum and ordered his deportation after he is brought back and jailed.

Newspapers said the court acquitted three accomplices, including the defendant’s wife, after it found no evidence they were involved in the theft.

When the court asked the defendant’s wife, who works at a travel agency, about the $60,000 found with her, she said it was her money as she earns Dh15,000 a month. The two other suspects at the same agency said they approved documents sent to them by the defendant as they did not know they are forged since they were stamped.

The court found the defendant guilty of embezzling the department by forging 429 documents and air tickets for students sent on scholarships abroad.

 
 

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