Dubai: A man is facing court proceedings after trying to fly his family out of the UAE using forged passports after a hospital made him sign a Dh750,000 security cheque when he failed to clear hospital dues related to the birth of his baby.

The 27-year-old Indian expatriate was told to deposit a security cheque of Dh750,000 after his wife delivered a child in December and he failed to settle the hospital bill.

According to records, when the cheque was returned for insufficient funds and the hospital reported the matter to the police, the man, in a desperate attempt to flee, paid Dh14,000 to a person who provided him with four forged Indian passports.

Law enforcement officers stopped the executive, his wife and two children and barred them from travelling after discovering that the four passports were forged, records showed.

Prosecutors accused the suspect of forging four passports and using them and forging entry and exit stamps of Dubai’s airport.

The suspect pleaded guilty when he appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Sunday.

He confessed before the presiding judge that he used the forged passports but insisted that a person residing abroad is the one who actually forged the travel documents.

When interrogated by prosecutors, the suspect was quoted as confessing: “Due to our desperate financial situation, I failed to pay the hospital bill following my wife’s delivery. I got sacked and my boss reported me absconding; the hospital had kept hold of my passport and they made me sign a Dh750,000 security cheque until I settle the pending bill for my baby’s delivery.

“After I failed to pay, the hospital submitted the cheque to the bank and it bounced due to lack of sufficient funds. Then they reported the matter to the police, thereafter I had no other option but to run away from the country. In the meantime, I met with a person, who said he would get me forged passports for Dh20,000. I paid him Dh14,000 and then I met him in Ajman, where I provided him with all the required documents and photos. Later he handed me four passports that bore different names. My wife, two children and I were stopped at the airport when the authorities discovered that the passports were forged.”

An airport officer testified before prosecutors that he stopped the family from heading to their flight once he discovered that the passports they were using were forged.

“When I asked them about their visas, the suspect said something and his wife said something contradictory,” the officer claimed.

A ruling will be heard in the case on May 23.