DUBAI // An accountant who pocketed Dh2.4 million after altering official receipts has been jailed for five years.
The 45-year-old Egyptian was also fined Dh2.4 million and ordered to repay the same amount to his employer, Dubai Customs.
The Dubai Criminal Court ordered he be fired from his job and deported after serving his prison term.
Between 2009 and 2013, the defendant – who worked at the dry docks collecting revenue for customs – forged 266 electronic receipts before saving them in the system.
A 31-year-old Egyptian assistant accountant discovered the forgeries while preparing a report on the 2013 and 2014 revenues after double checking the original paper receipts.
“All the altered receipts were done using the defendant’s username and password on the system,” said a 33-year-old Palestinian auditor who was part of a team set up to revise all of the defendant’s work.
The man denied charges of forgery, use of forged documents and embezzlement, when he appeared in court last April.
However, he was convicted. The court also ordered that all of the altered receipts saved on the electronic system by the defendant be deleted.
salamir@thenational.ae
