A bank manager who embezzled millions of dirhams of cash from her employer in order to fund her lover's lavish lifestyle has been handed a two-year jail term and hit with a huge fine.
The thieving worker swindled the vast fortune as part of an elaborate plot to persuade her fiance to marry her.
She splashed out on seven luxury cars for her partner - including two Rolls Royce and a Lexus - and wrapped up Dh1 million dirhams in cash in red ribbons as a birthday gift during her extravagant spending spree.
The Emirati woman, who was referred to only as HKH during legal proceedings, was ordered to pay a fine of Dh20 million by Abu Dhabi's Court of Cassation.
The court heard that the woman, who is in her mid thirties, stole about Dh10 million from the bank, where she worked as head of accounts and VIP customer services, during a period of several month between 2016 and 2017.
She also paid for business class flights to Europe and bought two Rolex watches for the Emirati man, who is in his late twenties, as well as wiping out his debts and buying gifts for his family.
It was only when she attempted to swipe another Dh10 million of company funds that she was finally caught out by the firm.
Police were alerted and the woman and her fiance were both arrested, along with his brother, in 2017, who were found to be complicit in the crime.
The bank worker had initially been ordered to serve seven years behind bars but her sentence was reduced after a subsequent appeal.
Her fiance and his brother were given six-month suspended jail terms and ordered to pay Dh600,000 in costs to the bank, as well as individual fines of Dh20,000.