A woman was sentenced in absentia to six months in jail on Thursday for embezzling almost half a million dirhams from her employer after altering receipts from two free zones.
The Filipina, who remains at large, forged 16 receipts from Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) and 17 others from Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority (JAFZA) before submitting them to her employer, a legal consultancy that paid her Dh434,300 believing that the amount was going to the two government bodies.
Her company had several applications processed by DMCC, which is the authority for Jumeirah Lakes Towers, and JAFZA and the defendant was supposed to pay the amounts to them in return for processing the applications. However, prosecutors said she took the money for herself after altering the receipts.
“I’ve known her for about five years. She worked with us at the legal firm and her job was to handle all government procedures for client companies, collect the fees then pay them to the government entities involved,” said an Egyptian legal consultant, 42.
He added that they discovered that she had been forging receipts from the two entities since March 2013.
“The incident came to light when our auditor contacted the government bodies requesting reports of payments,” said the consultant.
The woman was out the country when her scam was discovered and reported to police and she has not been back since.
In her absence, she was convicted of forgery, use of forged documents and embezzlement.
Once apprehended, she will have to serve her jail term before being deported.
