(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) An officer of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigner Affairs (GDRFA) faced trial for embezzling more than Dh5 million from his workplace.
The defendant, a 38-year-old from Oman who used to work on the service counter of the GDRFA allegedly pocketed the Dh5 million worth of fees and fines instead of putting the money on record as revenues.
According to prosecution records, the defendant's alleged wrongdoings began in January 2011 and lasted till July last year. He is accused of abusing his post and duty of issuing entry permits for those who stay outside the UAE for more than six months to embezzle Dh5,074,300 belonging to the GDRFA by deceiving the customers that he was the right person to receive the fees.
He allegedly issued 10,423 such permits and forged official electronic data and documents by putting in the residency department database that the permit fees and fines were duly received.
The counter officer was charged by the Court of First Instance with embezzlement of public funds, forgery and use of forged official electronic documents and data.
A policeman at the Follow-up and Investigation Section of the GDRFA said they learnt about the alleged financial irregularity after a Pakistani complained on July 5 last year that the accused collected Dh1,500 from him for issuing three entry permits for his wife and two sons. However, the complainant's family was stopped upon entry to the country for about five hours as two permits were issued in the name of one son while the other son was left with no permit. The policeman showed the complaining customer many pictures of the counter officers and he recognised the accused.
When summoned, the accused denied having processed the complainant's transaction and having collected money. However, when showed that the transaction was processed from his private user name, the accused claimed that some other officer might have had access to it.
Through investigation, it was known that the fines and fees for the permits the accused was in charge of issuing were not sent to the bank. The policeman added that his department then sent after the customers for whom the entry permits were issued.
Asked why they did not pay the fines and fees, those customers said they paid to the accused in cash and they all recognised his face among other officers' pictures, as the officer who processed their transactions and collected money from them.
When summoned again for internal investigation, the accused admitted that he pocketed the money. The policeman quoted him as admitting that he collected an average of Dh5,000 to Dh8,000 a day. Â
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