The Court of Appeal has reduced the jail sentence of two men, a Lebanese and a Palestinian, to three years from seven years for seizing QR 2,972,000 from the personal bank account of a Qatari client.
Local Arabic daily Arrayah reported on Wednesday that the defendants used to be employees of a local bank where the theft took place. The court upheld the ruling of the court of the first instance regarding the imprisonment of other two Lebanese defendants for 10 years for their part in the same case.
The court also ordered their deportation upon completing the sentence and slapped a fine equal to the amount embezzled. The first two defendants, who were customer care employees, abused their positions at the bank to counterfeit the signature of the client, issue a cheque book in his name and withdraw large sums of money. They also managed to get a bank loan in the name of the same client.
Eventually, the victim got a call from the bank notifying him that he owes the bank large sums of money due to three loans in his name, in addition to pending cheques for payment. However, he told the bank that such transactions are fraud and he knew nothing about them. Ultimately, the issue was brought to the Public Prosecution and the defendants were arrested and tried by the court.