A federal court has convicted a man for submitting forged documents to a UAE bank, including a fake salary certificate and an inflated housing lease approval, which led the bank to settle more than Dh882,000 of his debts with two other lenders.
Court documents show the defendant applied for a debt-purchase facility and attached a “To Whom It May Concern” letter claiming a monthly salary exceeding Dh50,000, as well as an annual housing allowance approval worth Dh190,000.
The papers appeared to come from a government entity, complete with official-looking stamps and signatures.
Investigators found he had also falsified the debt-purchase application itself by inflating his income to more than Dh56,000 and signing it with a forged signature, despite being aware that his real salary was significantly lower.
Based on the forged documents, the bank processed his application and settled his outstanding debts before discovering the information was fabricated.
The defendant denied the charges, insisting the documents were genuine and that he had no intent to obtain funds unlawfully. But prosecutors submitted evidence including bank staff testimonies, chat exchanges, an official confirmation that the documents did not originate from the supposed government entity, and the defendant’s own investigation statements.
The court ruled that the forged documents played a decisive role in misleading the bank into settling the debts and determined that the defendant knowingly used falsified papers for financial gain.
He was sentenced to three months in jail and fined Dh882,500, though the court suspended the prison term for three years, rejecting the prosecution’s request for a harsher penalty.
