DUBAI // An accountant who set fire to more than half-a-million dirhams of his company's money will spend seven years in prison after he was convicted yesterday by the Dubai Court of First Instance.
The Indian man, ST, 35, who worked for a taxi firm in Dubai, was found guilty of causing intentional damage to his employer as well as arson and theft of an amount similar to what he burnt.
Court records said ST set fire to a money bag that contained Dh550,000 in taxi receipts by lighting one banknote and putting it in the bag, which was kept in a wooden cupboard.
He also took a similar amount out of the bag and kept it, prosecutors said. His goal was to cover up his theft, they said.
The taxi company’s manager, also an Indian, said that Dh30,000 was entirely burnt while Dh226,000 was partially burnt in the attack last year. The rest was in good condition.
Prosecutors said employees at the company called police to help them put out the fire.
The criminal lab report confirmed that the blaze was deliberate.
salamir@thenational.ae
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
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- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
