• Home
• /
• Crime

Bank employee accused of embezzling Dh1m

A banker was charged on Wednesday by the Court of First Instance with embezzling more than Dh1 million from a Dubai Islamic Bank branch. The 39-year-old from Jordan is accused of embezzling public funds and termed as a public employee.

A legal consultant at the bank said, the discrepancy came to light when the bank claimed its credit card dues from an Egyptian woman customer who confirmed having paid them.

She confirmed that she had settled Dh4,800 as part of her dues to a firm which had a contract with the bank to collect the credit card loans owed to the bank on behalf of customers overseas.

The bank administration then launched an internal probe and found out that the sum was indeed paid.

Later, the administration on making a complete inventory discovered that the firm had streamed more than Dh1 million worth loans over a period of time stretching from 2009 to 2011 but the money was not deposited in the bank’s account.

A panel was formed to follow up on the matter and met with the accused along with the other bank staff. During the meeting, the accused admitted that he had collected the Dh1 million, although he was not authorised to do so according to the bank internal regulations.

A manager at the branch told the prosecutor that the defendant was in charge of the section of collecting pending overseas loans.

The bank was dealing with outlets in countries like Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Iran to collect the loans from credit card holders.

After the designated firm collected the loans, they were sent through money exchange offices to the bank.

The accused received the sums and embezzled more than Dh 1 million worth of loans instead of depositing the money in the bank’s account.

mary@khaleejtimes.com