41 men, women get jail terms for fraud in Ajman

The AJMAN Criminal Court sentenced 41 Arab men and women to prison from five years to 15 years and Dh60,000 in fines, followed by deportation, for fraud and stealing Dh34,673 from two government departments in Ajman.
The court also ordered the confiscation of money that belongs to companies in which the accused worked for.
According to prosecution and police investigation record, the accused carried out the fraud during one year. The government department discovered that there are cheques cashed in the names of companies and individuals that had no relation with the government departments.
The accused formed a gang and forged cheques, which they cashed from the accounts of the two government departments.
A chairman of one of government departments lodged complaint about money embezzlement being carried out during one, as money of the department being withdrawn from various banks. 
The department had discovered embezzlement during periodical audit. When checking with banks, it has been found that number of checks minimum worth two million, cashed with names of number of companies.
The police and public prosecution formed a team who managed to solve the mystery of the case which involved 41 accused from one nationality and based in various emirates of the country.
During interrogation at public prosecution the accused confessed that the cheques were forged in one of Arab countries and were sent to the gang by courier.
They issued cheques for companies that operate in the field of contracting,maintenance; public services which its owners agreed to cash it and receive some percentage of withdrawn cash from accounts of two government departments.
The accused used several swindling methods to convince the companies' owners to accept cash the forged cheques issued by the two government department. They also offered one of the owners one million to cash cheques for six million and he agreed.
The owner withdraws the cash paid it to his company and deposited five million in the account of one of the accused. They also copied a check issued by a government department in Sharjah and send it to the Arab country to forge it and send it back to them to carry out the same crime in Sharjah.
The police also seized watches, gold jewellery worth million from one of the accused who used to convince owners of companies to cash the cheques.
afkarali@khaleejtimes.com
 

• Sharjah