Brothers accused of stealing more than Dh4m from bank

Two brothers, including one who is a bank employee, are accused of stealing more than Dh4 million from the bank.

DUBAI// A bank operations manager and his brother this morning denied charges of stealing more than Dh4 million from the Abu Dhabi National Bank, a Dubai court heard this morning.

The bank employee, SR, 27, from Jordan, is accused of taking Dh3.3 million from the bank's safe, records show.

The prosecution also accused him of forging and using three official deposit receipts to claim that his brother, FR, deposited Dh100,000 into his personal account, and Dh242,000 into the bank account of a company owned by FR.

The third receipt was used to falsely document that FR also deposited Dh386,000 into his personal account at the bank, records show.

SR also faces charges of saving the forged documents into the bank's electronic system to deceive the bank about the deposits, prosecutors say.

"No, your honour, I didn't do that," SR told presiding Judge Hamad Abdullatif today at the Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance.

FR is accused of unlawfully obtaining the money after SR deceived the bank into believing that the money was deposited by FR. FR is also accused of aiding and abetting SR in committing these crimes between January and April 2008, records said.

SK, an Indian auditor, told prosecutors that while he was auditing in April 2008, he discovered a deficit in the bank's safe. He added that, while looking into the matter, he discovered that SR had been entering the safe alone, which is against bank procedures.

Camera tapes showed SR making deposits into his brother's account and forging bank documents, SK said in his testimony in court records.

The next hearing was scheduled for May 12 , based on a request from the defence lawyer.