Two Indians accused of embezzling USD 4 lakh from UAE govt

Two Indian nationals here have been accused of defrauding nearly USD 4,00,000 from the Ministry of Finance after forging 3,160 online transactions.
The accused - identified as 23-year-old MR and 24-year-old AA - worked at the Al Baraha hospital in Dubai that processed e-transactions for the Ministry of Health's Administration of Preventive Medicine.
The duo have taken advantage of a technical glitch that, according to prosecution records, hit the e-dirham payment system before they embezzled 1.44 million Dirhams (USD 3,92,050) from Finance Ministry.
The duo pleaded guilty before the Dubai Court of First Instance, Gulfnews reported yesterday.
A 42-year-old Indian businessman, identified as AB, was accused of aiding and abetting the duo by possessing part of the embezzled money. He kept AA's share with him.

"I was not aware that AA had embezzled the money. His father is my business partner and he claimed to me that the 700,000 Dirhams was the revenue of the joint business," said AB, who entered a not guilty plea.

According to the charge sheet, MR and AA were responsible for processing e-transactions related to the medical check-ups required to issue health cards at Al Baraha. MR was a typist and AA was a client services personnel.
MR is said to have exploited the technical glitch in the e-dirham payment system and discovered a technical method through which he seized the e-transaction fees.

The system should have shown that the value of the e-dirham was wired to the Ministry of Finance's accounts. But due to the glitch the money was not actually transferred, although it showed otherwise.
An Emirati woman director at the Ministry of Finance testified that the theft was discovered after one of the client's transactions was rejected.
"The Ministry immediately halted the system after more than 3,000 e-transactions were discovered to have been forged," said the director.
The case has been adjourned till April 6.