Former executive denies stealing TVs

A former executive at a Dubai-based satellite TV station pleads not guilty to stealing three flat-screen televisions from the company after he was sacked.

DUBAI // A former executive at a Dubai-based satellite TV station yesterday pleaded not guilty to stealing three flat-screen televisions from the company after he was sacked. At the Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance, the 52-year-old German former operations manager at Al Dawliya Television, identified as WW, denied taking the JVC-branded televisions from the station's studios last year.

He claimed the station had filed the case against him only because he had lodged a labour complaint against it, although he did not elaborate. Mahdi bin Ali, Al Dawliya's chief executive officer, told prosecutors that an audit conducted after WW's final day found that three television sets were missing from the station. "Upon our investigations at the station we found out that the televisions were in WW's possession," said Mr bin Ali, according to court documents.

Prosecution records show that the defendant, who was employed at Al Dawliya until October 30 last year, had confessed to police that he had taken the sets. Presiding Judge El Saeed Bargouth adjourned the case until later this month to hear further testimony. [e-mail]