Dubai Court Jails Clinic Clerk Over Fake Sick-Leave Scheme
By Business & Property Desk1 min read
Court Convicts Clerk and Accomplices
The story was published on Sat 17 Oct 2026, 6:00 AM. A Dubai Criminal Court found a clinic clerk guilty of forging electronic sick-leave certificates and sentenced her to prison, while also handing down terms to her accomplices involved in the scheme.
How the Fraud Was Uncovered
The case emerged after a private company observed an increase in sudden and repeated sick leave among some staff. The certificates bore digital stamps from the same clinic, leading the firm’s human resources department to review the matter internally and report its concerns to the authorities.
Details of the Scheme and Sentencing
Dubai Police investigators established that the clerk had arranged with private‑sector employees to issue certificates without the required medical examinations, receiving payments ranging from several hundred dirhams to more than Dh1,000 for each document. The forged papers were created through the clinic’s electronic health portal, using backdated dates and forged digital signatures that appeared to come from doctors. Employees used the certificates to take time off while continuing to draw their salaries, shifting the cost of unverified absences onto their employers.
During the trial the defence argued that the actions were merely an administrative lapse or unauthorised conduct by staff. The court rejected this, concluding that the defendants had deliberately falsified official medical records and misused the clinic’s electronic system.
The judge sentenced the clerk and her co‑accused to varying prison terms. Expatriate defendants were also ordered to be deported after serving their sentences, and financial penalties together with restitution were imposed.
The ruling highlighted how forged medical documents can harm employers and undermine the integrity of clinic records, holding the defendants responsible for using the electronic system to issue certificates without medical assessments and for causing companies to treat the resulting absences as legitimate sick leave.
