Dubai RTA employee allegedly embezzled more than Dh90,000 in fees

DUBAI // An employee of the Roads and Transports Authority allegedly embezzled more than Dh90,000 in fees, the Dubai Criminal Court heard.

Emirati W R, 38, was present in court but did not enter a plea as the judge ordered the case to be rescheduled for a lawyer to be present.

Prosecutors charged W R with embezzlement from his workplace. Records show that the ex-head of treasury at the RTA, identified as A M, testified he discovered the incident in June 2013 after an audit.

“My job is to receive then double check the fees that are deposited into the treasury by each employee and then on June 30 last year I noticed Dh93,000 missing from an amount of Dh155,700 that was supposed to be deposited by W R.”

A M said that he called the defendant the next morning to ask about the missing cash but found he was on annual leave. “I reported the issue to management then,” he said, adding that upon the defendant’s return to work he called him to ask again about the incident but W R did not respond and then took three days paternity leave.

“When he returned from his second leave, we sat with him and talked, he said he gave all the cash to the employee of the night shift,” added A M.

The employee of the night shift denied receiving two bags of cash and said he only took one bag containing Dh62,700.

An internal investigation was launched during which the defendant confessed to taking the money, saying that he was lured by the devil to do so in order to care for his big family and pay some of his many debts.

He asked the investigation committee to forgive him because he is a father and willing to return the amount. The court heard that the defendant provided his employer with a written confession.

The matter was then reported to police when he failed to repay the amount. The next hearing will be on January 18.