A childhood friendship has led to legal troubles for an electrical Indian engineer in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after he reportedly accepted a suspicious bank transfer of Dirham 2,100 (approximately Rupees 48194.64).
According to the Khaleej Times, the engineer was approached by a school friend who requested his bank details, claiming that another friend required them to transfer money for the renewal of a trade license.
However, he did not know that the money he received was sent by an Indian businessman who had initially engaged a worker via WhatsApp for this purpose.
The business owner planned to make a payment of Dh 10,000 for the license renewal while the Dh 2,100 was an initial installment. However, when the worker went untraceable and the transaction was not concluded, the business owner reported the incident to the UAE police.
Police investigations showed that the money had been deposited directly into the engineer’s account, leading to accusations of swindling and embezzlement against both him and the worker for the fraudulent activities.
Upon police questioning, the engineer said that he had given his bank details to his old-time friend.
Legal proceedings
During the court proceedings, the engineer denied all the charges by claiming that he had no knowledge of the illegality of the transaction in good faith and was unaware of any illegitimacy surrounding the money transactions.
The Lawyer of the engineer, Hani Hammouda Hagag, argued in court that his client was a friend of the complaint and he had no criminal intention.
“The victim and my client [worker] are friends. The matter has been resolved between them and the complainant waived his accusation and provided a written waiver. We ask the court to acquit the defendant,” Hagag was quoted by Khaleej Times.
Appeals and implications
Both parties have filed appeals against the ruling and the prosecutors demanded stiffer penalties, including deportation.
The Emirate has very strict measures when it comes to financial fraud because it endeavours to set high standards for business societies to emulate.
A hearing before the Appeal Court will be scheduled soon.
