Three Dubai bankers have been accused of accepting US$10 million in bribes for forging letters of credit (L/Cs) attributed to their former employer, HSBC.

Prosecutors told Dubai Criminal Court that the former HSBC employees forged a number of documents for bribes between June and November 2015.

Accusations

The three bankers are charged with accepting bribes, forging documents and using the forgeries. A fourth man, who remains at large, is charged with aiding and abetting by offering the bribes.

The bankers are accused of forging 15 L/Cs and bank guarantees for the fourth man.

Internal investigations

HSBC's head of internal investigations testified that when the defendants used to work at the bank they coordinated with the fourth man to issue him certificates with bank letterheads and official stamps before emailing the documents to him.

"After emailing the certificates, they would destroy all originals," the witness told the court.

False names

The court heard that the bank told prosecutors that the names and data on the L/Cs were all false.

Charges have not yet been brought against the three bankers as prosecutors told the court they wanted more time to assemble their case against the accused.

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