Dubai: A female student and a banker have been accused of conspiring with an absconding woman to cheat a bank and embezzle Dh2.7 million using forged papers.

The 33-year-old Emirati woman student and the 37-year-old Palestinian banker were said to have collaborated with the absconder in forging a salary certificate and a salary transfer certificate of the Interior Ministry, passport copy and other papers in May 2014.

The two women [student and absconder] and the banker were then believed to have conspired against the bank, according to records, before they opened a bank account in the name of the absconder, applied for a personal loan and embezzled Dh2.7 million.

Shortly after the bank’s management discovered that the papers had been forged and that the absconder had lied about being an employee at the Interior Ministry, the act of swindling and deception was reported to the police.

Prosecutors accused the 33-year-old and the 37-year-old suspects of forging official papers and using them by submitting them to the bank and defrauding the bank of Dh2.7 million.

The suspects pleaded not guilty and refuted their accusations when they appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Wednesday.

According to the charge sheet, prosecutors said the suspects and the runaway forged papers that they attributed to the ministry, forged three cheques, opened a bank account using the forged papers and embezzled the bank’s money after they applied for a personal loan.

A police lieutenant testified to prosecutors that primary interrogations revealed that the absconder posed as a ministry employee who takes home a salary of Dh136,000.

“The suspects forged the papers and the 33-year-old visited the bank and posed as the absconder … then she provided the bank with a certificate stating that she gets a salary of Dh136,000. Then they opened a bank account, after which the 33-year-old applied for a personal loan of Dh2.7 million. Later, it was discovered that the papers obtained from the ministry were forged. Further investigation revealed that the 33-year-old had purchased two cars in cash and registered them in her name,” the lieutenant told prosecutors.

The bank’s Lebanese manager testified that the banker came to her and told her that a client [female suspect] had applied for a loan worth Dh2.7 million.

“The 37-year-old claimed to me that the loan applicant worked in the ministry and her salary is Dh136,000. The next day she visited the bank to finish her loan transaction … she wore a niqab [face cover]. I invited her to my office and asked her to remove her niqab to double check her identity and ensure that she was the same applicant [whose photo was on the copy of the passport submitted with the papers]. When I realised that it is the same person, I signed the papers,” the manager claimed to prosecutors.

The trial continues.