ADCB has started initial talks for a potential merger with UNB and Al Hilal Bank in Abu Dhabi. Stephen Lock / The National
ADCB has started initial talks for a potential merger with UNB and Al Hilal Bank in Abu Dhabi. Stephen Lock / The National
ADCB has started initial talks for a potential merger with UNB and Al Hilal Bank in Abu Dhabi. Stephen Lock / The National
ADCB has started initial talks for a potential merger with UNB and Al Hilal Bank in Abu Dhabi. Stephen Lock / The National

Pair took bribes in exchange for details of 25 Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank accounts, court told


Salam Al Amir
  • English
  • Arabic

Two bankers accepted bribes in exchange for leaking the account details of 25 customers of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, a court heard.

The Indian men, aged 32 and 23, both employees by ADCB, accepted the cash in exchange for revealing account information of customers living overseas who had balances of more than Dh300,000.

One of the defendants received Dh100,000 and the other a sum between Dh50,000 and Dh100,000, from a 30-year-old Indian man.

The men used the information to steal Dh599,000 from the account of one customer, who was out of the country at the time, Dubai Criminal Court heard.

They applied for bank cards in her name and used internet banking services to transfer Dh583,000 to an account belonging to them, prosecutors said.

The trio then allegedly used the credit card to withdraw another Dh16,000 from the account.

The three defendants are charged with fraudulently obtaining money.

Two, aged 30 and 32, are charged with illegally obtaining credit and ATM cards.

A 23-year-old banker is also charged with abusing his position, accepting a bribe, divulging confidential information, and aiding and abetting.

The Indian victim, 34, said she left the country in December 2016 and returned on February 25 last year.

On March 3, the woman was informed by her bank that she had been transferring money and using her credit card to purchase gold, which she said she did not do.

“The last action I made on my account was in December 2016,” she said.

The anti-fraud section at the bank started an internal investigation which led to the men being identified.

The two bankers were arrested, but the third man remains at large.

The two former ADCB employees deny the charges. The next hearing is on September 20.

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More from court:

Men who robbed woman before she fell to her death lose appeal bid

British man sends alarm bells ringing after escape bid at Dubai police station, court hears

Former DP World manager must pay Dh5 million fine over bribe plot

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Some of Darwish's last words

"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008

His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.

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