Indian jailed in Dubai for refusing to return accidentally transferred Rs 1.28 crore

An Indian man here in the UAE has been jailed for a month for refusing to return AED 570,000 (approximately Rs 1.28 crore), which was incorrectly transferred to his bank account by a medical trading company in October 2021.

The man, whose identity has not been revealed, has been asked to pay the same amount in fines and will be deported at the end of his sentence, according to a verdict passed recently by the Dubai Criminal Court, The National newspaper reported.

The medical trading company intended to transfer the AED 570,000 to a business client but accidentally sent it to the man, an official of the company told the judges.

”We discovered the transfer was done to an account similar to the supplier’s account without checking the details,” the official was quoted as saying in the report The man confirmed that he received a transfer notification of the deposited amount but did not verify where the money came from.

“I was surprised when Dh 570,000 was deposited in my bank account. I paid for my rent and expenses,” the report quoted the accused as saying.

The accused refused to return the money to the bank despite knowing it was transferred by mistake.

“A company asked me to return the money, but I refused because I was unsure if the money belonged to them. They asked me several times,” the report quoted him as saying in court.

On his refusal to return the money, the company reported the incident to Dubai’s Al Raffa police station while the bank froze his account, but the money was not recovered.

It was not revealed if the accused had moved the money out of his account and deposited it elsewhere.

Dubai Public Prosecution charged him with obtaining the money illegally, the report said. He has now appealed against the verdict, and a hearing is expected next month.