Dubai bank manager accused of opening fake accounts

DUBAI // A manager at a bank is accused of forging documents in order to open fake accounts in which he deposited millions of dirhams illegally, the Dubai Criminal Court heard.

Pakistani G L, 29, denied charges of forging six official applications for nonexistent people by signing them and then submitting them to Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank.

He was also charged with forging six more electronic documents as part of the process of opening the accounts by adding false information about the alleged holders of the accounts. He then used the documents by submitting them to the bank.

G L denied all charges at the Dubai Criminal Court on Sunday morning. However, prosecutors said that he confessed during investigations and that a similar case against him was ongoing in Abu Dhabi where he was alleged to have opened nine bank accounts also for people who did not exist. He deposited more than Dh32 million into these accounts.

Investigations also revealed the involvement of a company in Ras Al Khaimah that issued 35 cheques for more than Dh16 million to the benefit of four of the fake account holders.

“When we investigated the company and its manager we found that the company’s permit was cancelled and its manager was out of the country,” testified Y A, 53, an Emirati expert with Dubai Police.

Prosecutors said that G L confessed to abusing his position as a clients affairs manager. Part of this job was to open new bank accounts for VIPs.

He allegedly said that he had done so as a favour to a Pakistani minister who delivered the forged documents to him at a hotel in Dubai.

The public prosecution froze all of the bank accounts. The next hearing will be on October 15.