Dubai Criminal Court has sentenced an Indian man to one month in jail after he refused to pay back Dh570,000 that was incorrectly transferred into his bank account.
He was also asked to pay the same amount in fines and will be deported after serving his sentence.
The transaction happened in October last year, but the verdict was given recently.
The man said he received a transfer notification and did not know where the money came from. He spent Dh52,000 to pay his rent and other bills without checking with the bank to establish who had sent the money into his account.
“I was surprised when Dh570,000 was deposited in my bank account. I paid for my rent and expenses,” the accused said in court.
“A company asked me to return the money, but I refused because I was unsure if the money belonged to them. They asked me several times.”
The money was transferred by a medical trading company.
“We have a business with a supplier company, and an employee made the transfer to their account. They complained about not receiving the Dh570,000, and we discovered the transfer was done to an account similar to the supplier's account without checking the details,” an official from the medical trading company told the judges.
The company asked the bank to return the money, but the accused refused despite knowing it had been transferred by mistake.
“The bank told us that he refused to return the money,” the official said.
The company then reported the incident to Al Raffa police station and received an order to present to the bank to get the money.
The bank froze the account, but the money was not recovered. It was not revealed if the accused had moved the money out of his account and deposited it elsewhere.
Dubai Public Prosecution charged him with obtaining the money illegally.
The man admitted the charge and asked for some time to settle the claim, but his request was refused.
He has appealed against the verdict and a hearing is expected next month.
