Eight jailed for embezzling more than Dh28 million from Emirates Transport

Documents were forged to show that tyres bought by the organisation were at its warehouse when, in fact, they were being sold for profit by the group.

DUBAI // Eight Emirates Transport workers have each been jailed for five years for embezzling more than Dh28 million from their employer.

Two others accused of the fraud were acquitted at Dubai Criminal Court on Wednesday.

T M, 36, an Indian expatriate programmer, altered documents on the company’s computer systems to make it appear that tyres bought by the organisation were stored at its warehouses when in fact they were being sold by the employees.

He was fined Dh415,000 and ordered to pay the same amount to Emirates Transport.

The gang, aged between 30 and 63, operated the scam from 2008 until 2012, when T M’s activities were discovered by another programmer, who informed his superiors.

Four other Indians, four Pakistanis and one Sudanese man denied charges of embezzlement and criminal complicity.

T M admitted forgery, but said he had acted on behalf of another member of the gang, M A.

“He gave me Dh100,000 in return but I did not embezzle any money from the company itself,” T M told the court.

M A was convicted of embezzlement, jailed for five years, fined Dh415,000 and ordered to repay the same amount to Emirates Transport.

The other six were fined between Dh895,000 and Dh3.8 million and ordered to repay the same amounts to their employer.

All eight will be deported after completing their sentences.