DUBAI // A policeman who forged a sick note to earn three days leave then flew to Lebanon for six days on holiday was given a suspended jail term by the Dubai Criminal Court.
Emirati A A, 27, was convicted on Monday morning of forging an official sick leave document from Sharjah’s Al Qassimi Hospital with the help of an unknown man by changing the dates and adding his name.
He was also convicted of using an original Ministry of Health stamp on a forged document and with using the document by submitting it to his employer, Dubai Police, again with the help of an unknown man.
The policeman was caught when a random check was made and he was found to be outside of the country on the dates of his sick leave.
“We suspected [something was not right with] the leave and checked his status and found him in Lebanon,” testified police major A M A, 40.
The major said Al Qassimi Hospital was contacted but officials there said the defendant had not been a patient.
“A A then confessed in writing and said that he doesn’t remember the person who got him the leave,” said the major.
He was given a three-month jail term which was suspended by court for three years from today.
The sentence will only be carried out if the same offence is repeated in the next three years.
salamir@thenational.ae