Dubai World HR manager 'hired fake employees and embezzled millions'

Human resources manager at developer Limitless forged documents to hire fake employees, court told.

DUBAI // A human resources manager at Dubai developer Limitless forged documents to hire fake employees, costing the firm more than Dh2 million, a court heard.

Briton MBS, 45, allegedly used documents to embezzle recruiting costs of Dh2.1m. He is also accused of hiring a fake employee, FM, for the company's offices in Russia and charging the company the Dh298,388 salary. Records show the actions occured between 2007 and 2008. MBS denied all charges.

He is also accused of falsely claiming a bachelor's degree in physics from the University of London - Kings College, and a master's degree in business administration from the University of Warwick.

Prosecutors at Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance said MBS confessed to using a forged university certificate in 2007 to gain employment. The arraignment sheet said he confessed to purchasing the degrees for £40,000 (Dh232,827).

EB, the strategy section head at Limitless, part of Dubai World, testified he found a handwritten resume of FM and that "the writing was similar to that of MB".

"When I asked him about the employee he said he hired him for a monthly salary of Dh125,000," EB said.

EB said he became suspicious and hired a detective agency to track down FM. The agency could not find the man, and EB informed police.

Investigations led to the discovery of a criminal record for MBS in the UK, where an arrest warrant was issued in England in 1999.

Records show the amounts of money embezzled were wired to a bank in Cyprus.

The next hearing will be on April 1.