The Dubai Criminal Court also ordered the man to pay a fine of the same amount and ordered his deportation after he had served his sentence, The National reported.
Posted on – Fri 30 Dec 22 at 03:03pm
dubai: A Dubai court sentenced an Indian man to one month in prison for failing to return Dh570,000 (Rs 1.2 lakh) that was mistakenly transferred to his bank account last October.
The Dubai Criminal Court also ordered the man to pay a fine of the same amount and ordered his deportation after serving his sentence, The National reported.
The Indian, who did not want to be named, told the court he was notified of the transfer and did not know where the money came from.
“I was surprised when Dh570,000 was deposited into my bank account. I paid the rent and expenses,” he told the court.
“A company asked me to refund the money, but I refused because I wasn’t sure if the money belonged to them. They asked me several times,” the National reported the man said.
The money was transferred by a pharmaceutical trading company.
“We found that the transfer was made on an account similar to the supplier’s account, but did not check the details,” an official from the pharmaceutical trading company told the judges.
The company then reported the incident to the Al Raffa police station, at which point the defendant refused to return the money, even though he knew it had been transferred by mistake, the newspaper reported.
The Dubai Public Prosecution accused him of obtaining the money illegally.
The man, whose bank account has been frozen, admitted the charges and asked for time to settle his claim, but his request was denied.
He has appealed the sentence and a hearing is expected next month.
