Businessman hid father’s death to keep receiving pension, Dubai court hears

The Emirati man forced official documents stating that his father was still alive, even though the military veteran had actually died in 2010.

DUBAI // A businessman forged official documents stating that his dead father was still alive in order to keep receiving pension payments, a court heard yesterday.

The Dubai Criminal Court was told that the father of Emirati M A had died in 2010.

The same year, the defendant forged two official letters purporting to prove that his military veteran father was not dead.

He submitted the documents to the Retired Militants Society so he could be the sole recipient of the payments of Dh10,387 per month.

If the organisation had known his father was dead, the money would have been shared between M A and his six siblings.

The defendant’s brother, T A, 48, testified that the incident had been discovered when one of his brothers visited the Ministry of Finance in Abu Dhabi and was informed that his father’s salary was still being paid.

“We then came to know that M A had renewed the papers after my father’s death and had been taking the salary himself ever since,” said T A.

An employee at the Retired Militants Society testified that M A had delivered the required documents to him in person. M A told him that his father was still alive, but due to ill health was not able to renew his application himself.

A verdict is expected on May 13.