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UAE: Former company official cleared of Dh17 million fraud

Abu Dhabi - Court acquits defendant due to lack of evidence

An Abu Dhabi-based drilling company has lost a court case, where it had accused its former general manager (GM) of embezzling more than Dh17 million (m) from the firm's bank account.

In its lawsuit filed at the Abu Dhabi Court of First Instance, the company had alleged that the GM illegally took the cash from its bank account and disbursed it to unknown parties.

The accused had denied the charges against him in court.

His lawyer had presented to the court a defence memorandum, where she argued that the accusations -- both material and moral -- were baseless against her client and were malicious in intent.

She found legal loopholes in the documents submitted to the court by the complainant, as they lacked sufficient evidence to establish the defendant’s culpability.

Later, the lawyer asked the court to set up a three-member panel, comprising accounting experts to investigate the matter, including visiting the company's offices to review its accounting system to ascertain the exact sum that was allegedly disbursed from the company's bank account and the unknown parties who had received it.

She said the committee should also find out whether the amount claimed to have been embezzled from the firm had been considered as theft by its internal auditors.

The panel investigated the matter and gave a clean chit to the defendant because the members found that the money was disbursed to specific parties for the company’s work.

The court dismissed the case due to lack of evidence and the GM was found to be innocent.

ismail@khaleejtimes.com