Jail term upheld for Dubai Customs accountant who embezzled Dh2.4m

Dubai Court of Appeal upheld the jail sentence of a Dubai Customs accountant for altering receipts and pocketing the difference.

DUBAI // An accountant for Dubai Customs must see out his five-year jail term for altering official receipts and pocketing more than Dh2 million, a court ruled.

Dubai Court of Appeal upheld the 45-year-old Egyptian’s prison sentence and a fine of Dh2.4 million, in addition to paying the same amount to Dubai Customs. He will also be dismissed from his job.

The accountant had been stationed at the Dry Docks to collect revenues for Dubai Customs. Records show that, between 2009 and 2013, he forged 266 electronic receipts by reducing their amounts, then saving them in the electronic system.

A 31-year-old Egyptian assistant accountant discovered the forgeries while preparing a revenues report for 2013 and 2014, after she double-checked the original receipts instead of the electronic ones.

“All the altered receipts were done using the defendant’s username and password on the system,” said a 33-year-old Palestinian auditor, who was part of an auditing team set up to reviewthe defendant’s work.

At both the criminal and appeal courts, the defendant denied charges of forgery, use of forged documents and embezzlement.

However, he was convicted, and both courts ordered the deletion of all altered receipts that the defendant saved on the electronic system.

He will be deported after serving his prison term.