Dubai Airport employee gets 3 months jail for embezzling Dh420

The 33-year-old Kenyan man sold a ticket to a traveler for $700 (Dh2,571) at Dubai International Airport on October 26 of last year.

The Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced an airport employee to three months in jail and a Dh5,000 fine for embezzling Dh420 from a ticket price.
The 33-year-old Kenyan man sold a ticket to a traveler for $700 (Dh2,571) at Dubai International Airport on October 26 of last year.
He recorded the transaction in dirhams and embezzled Dh420 from the total.
He admitted during the investigation a traveler came to his counter between 4 and 5am. "He wanted a ticket from Dubai to Tashkent and I issued it to him for $700. I collected the money in cash and converted it to dirhams at an exchange office at the airport.
"It was Dh 2,520. I deposited Dh 2,100 as a price for that ticket in the cash register and kept the remaining Dh420 with me," the employee confessed.
However, shortly thereafter, the traveler came back, requested a booking cancellation and claimed a refund as the ticket was wrongly issued to him.
The employee after the accused ended his shift found that the money was not registered in dollars. The supervisor was called, who informed the police.  
A security officer told the prosecutor that the traveler complained to him he had purchased a ticket for $700 a few hours earlier but it was wrongly issued to Astana instead of Tashkent.
When checking their records, the travel agency staff found that the ticket had been issued in dirhams and for a price less than $700. The accused then claimed he collected the money in a local currency. But as the traveler insisted he had paid in dollars, they checked their surveillance cameras which clearly showed clearly the traveler was telling the truth.

• Dubai