Ministry's Employee Embezzles Over Dh400,000 From Workplace

An Emirati man abused his post at a UAE ministry branch to embezzle funds from his workplace, a Dubai court heard on Wednesday.

According to the public prosecution records, the 38-year-old employee was occupying the post of an administrative officer at the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation when he allegedly embezzled 228 attestation stickers worth Dh407,550 with the aim of reselling them.

The stickers had already been used on processed transactions earlier. The defendant allegedly used a colleague's login without the latter's knowledge to gain access into the ministry's e-system to reprint the stickers.

He faced charges of embezzlement of public funds and gaining unauthorised access into an e-system, at the Court of First Instance.

The employee, who had been with the ministry for almost 10 years, denied the charge, claiming the stickers he embezzled were worth just Dh20,000.

The alleged irregularities, which were reported by the defendant's colleague, took place between February 4 and March 8.

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On March 16, the officer was summoned to the ministry, where he was subjected to a probe by a committee. He gave and signed a written acknowledgement about the embezzlement. On March 25, he was summoned to his workplace and got arrested by the police.

He claimed the stickers he embezzled did not exceed 60 in number.

During the public prosecution investigation, the defendant claimed he had some financial problems and needed extra money. He managed to obtain his colleague's password at his desk without his knowledge.

He confessed he sold the stickers to customers - who were PROs - and collected a total of Dh20,000 in cash. He claimed he did not know those PROs in person or their names.

The 29-year-old employee who exposed the case said on March 11, he received an official e-mail enquiring about the multiplicity of reprinting of certification stickers issued from the ministry's branch at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Dubai. "I was surprised to hear about that, as I was the only employee who had the power to reprint a sticker when it is wrongly printed. When I followed up on the matter, I learned that 288 stickers had been reprinted."

The trial will continue on May 30.