DUBAI: A laboratory’s female administrator who forged Dewa bills, school fee receipts and rent contracts to swindle Dhs375, 358 worth allowances from her workplace has been slapped on the wrist.

The Portuguese woman, 50, counterfeited 44 Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) bills worth Dhs32,383.60 by replacing her husband’s name with hers and changing the apartment number.

From 2010 to 2016, she forged 40 school fee payment receipts worth Dhs123,475, which she attributed to a private school. She convinced her workplace’s management that her children went to the aforementioned school.

She forged five rent contracts worth Dhs219,500 by changing her marital apartment’s number from 202 to 203. She convinced the management that she was staying with her children in 203.

Her activities came to light when she forgot to change the apartment number on one of the Dewa bills. A Jordanian auditor who was reviewing the laboratory’s accounts records discovered it.

At the Criminal Court, she denied six counts of forgery, use of forged documents and embezzlement. The court sentenced her to six months in prison to be followed by deportation.

Before prosecutors, she contended that she committed no wrong doing and the lab made no loss since the money she siphoned was worth her employment privileges, and almost all employees were doing the same.

She appealed the ruling. The Appeals Court has suspended the punishment for a period of three years. She ought not to repeat a similar offence within that period, the court warned her.

The auditor revealed the defendant emailed the lab owner that her salary was not enough for her needs thus she forged documents. She relentlessly begged for an amicable solution.

The laboratory’s Indian accountant seconded the auditor’s testimony and said the defendant siphoned school fees, electricity and water payments and rent allowances apart from her special salary.