Dubai bank ordered to pay Dh4.9m stolen from customer's account

A Dubai court has ordered a bank to repay a customer Dh4.9 million that was siphoned off from his account. According to public prosecution records, the complainant, an Arab man, had a dormant account at the bank.

He was out of the UAE for some time and when he returned, he found that someone had managed to withdraw all the funds from his account.

The Dubai commercial court ordered the bank and the accused (a former Arab employee and his accomplice, an African man) to re-deposit the balance into the complainant's account and also to pay him an interest of 12 per cent over the misappropriated amount.

The court reached the decision after it ruled that one of the bank's former employees was involved in the fraud. Court records show that the defendant's accomplice approached the bank and pretended to be the complainant. The duo misused the complainant's ID copy and other personal documents to withdraw the amount.

The defendant and his accomplice were found guilty by the Court of First Instance of charges of forgery, use of forged documents, breach of trust, fraud and criminal complicity. They have each been sentenced to three years in jail. They will be deported after serving their time in jail and paying the money as ruled by the court.

A case was registered in 2017, following which the two men involved were apprehended.

The court order remains subject to appeal.

Just last week, a bank in Dubai was ordered to pay a customer Dh4.6 million that was stolen from his savings account. The embezzlement happened after fraudsters impersonated the account holder and applied for a replacement SIM card on his behalf at a telecom provider.

mary@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai

Marie Nammour

mary@khaleejtimes.com