Woman jailed for embezzling Dh20 million to spend on lover in UAE

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Woman jailed for embezzling Dh20 million to spend on lover in UAE

She spent the money buying luxury cars, branded watches for the man.

by

Ismail Sebugwaawo

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Published: Wed 21 Nov 2018, 10:00 PM

Last updated: Thu 22 Nov 2018, 8:54 AM

A bank employee, who stole Dh20 million from her workplace and spent the cash on a man who had promised to marry her, has been jailed for seven years.
The Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance on Tuesday handed down the jail sentence to the 34-year-old Emirati woman after she was found guilty of embezzlement.
The court fined the woman Dh20,000 and ordered her to return to the bank the Dh20 million she had siphoned off. 
Her boyfriend and his brother were also sentenced to six months in jail after being charged with conniving with the woman to embezzle the funds and exploiting her. The duo was fined Dh20,000 each and ordered to jointly return Dh3.5 million to the bank. 
Official court documents stated that the Emirati woman used her position as the head of the accounts section at a banking institution in Abu Dhabi to steal the cash.
She allegedly spent the stolen cash on a 27-year-old man, also from GCC, in paying his bank loans, buying him luxury cars, special number plates, expensive gifts like branded watches and clothes. She also paid for his luxurious trips to Europe while travelling in business class of different flights. 
The court earlier heard that the alleged fiancé was already married and was reportedly lying to the woman that he would tie the knot with her.
Police investigations revealed that the woman used her position at work and through fraudulent means siphoned off millions of dirhams from the institution. Prosecutors said the police had recovered part of the stolen cash by seizing some gifts. 
Earlier in the court, the woman admitted to embezzling the funds from her workplace during the period from August 2016 to April 2017. She regretted committing the crime saying that she made a big mistake. 
The woman also said that her fiancé had asked her to help them with money because their father's company was facing a crisis.  She said the men had promised to pay back the money. 
The man and his brother denied asking her for the money. The man told the court that the woman gave him the cash and the gifts of her own free will. 
ismail@khaleejtimes.com


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