20-11-2008
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Dubai: Two staffers have been jailed for dishonestly pocketing from a property development firm Dh1.56 million, a one per cent commission for selling 84 villas worth Dh300 million, ruled a court.
The Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced the 27-year-old Indian executive salesman and the 26-year-old Russian female marketing manager, who work for the property development company, to one year each in jail.
The court ordered them to jointly pay a Dh1.56 million fine and referred the civil lawsuit, lodged by the firm, to the Dubai Civil Court. They will be deported after serving their punishments. However, Wednesday's ruling is still subject to appeal within 15 days.
The two accused pleaded not guilty of tricking their bosses into increasing the woman's commission from three to four per cent in the villas' deal.
The Public Prosecution charged the duo with swindling Dh1.56 million when they falsely claimed to the company that the woman (who also worked as a property broker with the company) will not finalise the sales deal if her commission is not increased from three to four per cent. The executive salesman was charged with misleading the bosses to increase the commission so he and his associate could pocket the money.
The 27-year-old was charged with taking half of the woman's commission as bribe, meanwhile she was charged with aiding and abetting him.
The company's legal consultant testified that they discovered the incident after the 27-year-old suddenly became rich when he bought a brand new car and a watch worth Dh60,000. "We discovered that the girl issued him a cheque worth half of her commission... she confessed to me," the consultant said.
Prosecution charged the woman with deceiving the company to increasing her commission from three to four per cent under the threat of not finalising villa deals.