Woman denies embezzling Dh300m from Adwea

The trial for a woman accused of acquiring Dh300m through her position at the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority continues.

ABU DHABI // A former employee of the electricity and water regulator accused of embezzling Dh300 million was the victim of a conspiracy, her lawyer told a court on Tuesday.

MGH is charged with forgery and acquiring illicit profits for herself and others through her position at the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (Adwea).

But her lawyer told the Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance that she was being punished for not going along with the fraud scheme and refusing to approve illegitimate receipts.

"She was put in this position after serving the authority for more than 10 years, because she insisted on applying the authority's rules," her lawyer said.

"She had discovered violations in the health insurance receipts and she refused to transfer them.

"She was pressured many times to transfer them, which pushed her to resign twice."

Prosecutors say MGH, an Emirati who was the former head of risk management at Adwea, awarded contracts worth Dh297m to her private company, which co-ordinates services among insurance companies, in exchange for bribes over 10 years.

Prosecutor Ayman Hanafi said that MGH forged a certificate to give her authority to settle the contracts in cooperation with a second defendant, MI, a Jordanian, who worked under her.

Two other Jordanian men - AI, and MMI - and an Egyptian man, TZ, who work for the two insurance companies MGH is accused of accepting bribes from, are facing charges related to corruption.

On Tuesday, MGH's lawyer also argued that two executives at the authority were also on the executive boards of the insurance companies under question.

"So how can we say that Adwea was paying during the 10 years and the executive board did not know anything about it? Is it logical the defendant was able to hide all the commissions?" he said.

Adwea also raised its requested compensation from Dh2m to Dh300m, payable by the five defendants and the three companies that won contracts, the court was told yesterday.

In previous hearings, MGH testified she had not used her influence to award herself any contracts, nor did she accept commissions for awarding contracts or forge any documents.

The case was filed by the Abu Dhabi Accountability Authority.

Lawyers had asked that reporters be banned from the trial but Chief Justice Saeed Abdul Baseer rejected the request.

The verdict will be issued on November 15.