Dubai: Four men have been accused of bribing bank employees to help them take more than Dh2 million in loans and credit facilities using forged papers and documents.
The four jobless men — two Pakistanis and two Indians — allegedly conspired with two bankers, who were employed at local banks, and provided them with forged papers and personal documents to take bank loans on different dates after December 2016.
The quartet, aged between 28 and 45, agreed with the bankers to pay the latter commission, according to records, if they helped them in obtaining approvals for their requests for loans or credit facilities.
Records said the quartet used forged trade licences, salary certificates and photocopies of passports and Emirates IDs to obtain three loans of Dh400,000 each and another credit facility worth Dh1 million from two different banks.
On their fifth attempt to apply for a loan at another local bank, the banker whom they approached to get a loan of Dh400,000 asked them for a few days to consider their offer after they had promised him Dh30,000 in commission.
The banker informed his supervisor and they reported the matter to Dubai Police who directed them to pretend to have agreed their offer to have the culprits arrested in a sting operation.
The banker contacted the quartet, according to records, and accepted the forged documents from them. Once the loan was ready for collection, police apprehended the four men.
Prosecutors charged the four suspects with forging papers and using them to obtain bank loans and credit facilities. They were also accused of swindling, deception and bribing a public sector employee [banker who worked for a government-owned bank].
One of the Indian suspects, aged 31, and his 34-year-old Pakistani accomplice pleaded guilty before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Wednesday.
They argued before presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi that they defrauded the banks, bribed the banker, and used forged papers. However, they contended that the other two suspects, aged 28 and 45, were not involved in the fraud.
According to the accusation sheet, prosecutors said the quartet conspired with two bankers [who aided them in obtaining the first four loans before the sting operation] and who remain at large.
The 34-year-old suspect was quoted as admitting to prosecutors that they used to lure bankers with bribes to assist them in getting loans and siphon off the money.
He also admitted to prosecutors that they started their scam in December 2016 and took a Dh1 million loan and three loans of Dh400,000 each before they were exposed and apprehended by the police in March 2017.
Presiding judge Al Shamsi adjourned the case to February 7 until the seized forged papers are clubbed to the case file.
