Bahrain
Kuwait
Oman
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
UAE
Etisalat probe after $7.4mn 'stolen over two years'
by This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it on Monday, 8 September 2008Posted on Sunday, 14 September 2008
mmm who has been affected
Posted by Zero at 14:41 UAE time
As the article mentions she was able to "convert regular payments from the accounts of payrolls into her personal account ".
mmm does it mean the money has been stolen from the salaries of Etisalat employees and not Etisalat itself ?
CLICK HERE TO POST A COMMENT
Posted on Wednesday, 10 September 2008
Etisalat rip-off
Posted by Graham Plater at 12:17 UAE time
Yes, had the employee been male he might have more easily squandered it instead of keeping it in his account so that his bank could blow the whistle on him. Strange that someone with the wits to steal a few millions should then be dumb enough not to run with the loot instead of waiting around to get caught...
CLICK HERE TO POST A COMMENT
Another proof that women are better money handlers
Posted by Mohammad at 11:05 UAE time
What is really astonishing is that she managed to keep all the money in her account without spending it on properties or stock market or shopping or any other means.
If it was a guy, he would buy a Ferari .. invest some in some lavish property , etc....
CLICK HERE TO POST A COMMENT
advertisement
Posted on Tuesday, 9 September 2008
very true
Posted by AirMiles at 21:56 UAE time
Good to see we all agree. We can all see very clearly there is something rotten, and it seems Dubai is on the receiving end of it all.
Etisalat, in doing what its communications department has asked it to, i.e. "appear positive as we have the money back", has missed the point and only emphasised its position to be laughable. Confidence in the company right now? I can only guess.
It would have been a better plan to congratulate the bank in alerting them as they missed it! At least then they would appear gracious, instead of simply stupid.
CLICK HERE TO POST A COMMENT
Serves them right
Posted by Graham Plater at 19:07 UAE time
Etisalat has been making so much money so easily that it's not surprising that they can afford to mislay a few million. What does surprise me is that the lady didn't eventually say "enough" and take off with the loot in order to enjoy it elsewhere in comfort and safety.
CLICK HERE TO POST A COMMENT
Etisalat fraud.
Posted by hombil at 16:33 UAE time
I am in agreement with Hazel. Etisalat needs to start damage control exercise immediately. But first change its head of corporate communications!
CLICK HERE TO POST A COMMENT
Etisalat Money siphoned by a lady employee??? Strange....
Posted by Pravin Madhavan at 16:24 UAE time
As one of my friends rightly pointed out in his comments, incidents like these will really hamper the credibility that UAE has built over a period of 20 odd years, or even more. I am sure all the other GCC states always looked forward to UAE as a role model in the case of being the GCC state that has shown growth in business tremendously in these years. I really feel sad that such a vibrant country has to have such mean people to spoil the country's image. They must be severly punished so as to set an example for the others who have such plans, to ward them off such acts.
CLICK HERE TO POST A COMMENT
Etisalat need a new head of corporate communications
Posted by Hazel at 15:23 UAE time
Seriously, the gentleman's statement is laughable (as all the comments have already demonstrated!)
"the company's security procedures had worked???". The same article clearly stated that there were NONE to detect such fraud. The bank informed them (which is a whole other issue). In principle, the bank has committed a serious breech of confidentiality against their client, regardless of her integrity, or lack of! If I were Etisalat, I'd do some serious damage control immediately. Get a proper spokesperson to make a statement and clarify what went wrong. If need be, apologise to the public for any wrong doing and fix the problem. That's all it takes!
CLICK HERE TO POST A COMMENT
Something amiss!
Posted by SR at 14:59 UAE time
Something amiss here, USD 7.4M by a payroll employee at a branch?? How large is the payroll that you dont detect AED 2M per batch?? I feel this is just the tip of the iceberg!
"company has recovered the full amount" how, was this employee just holding the entire USD 7.4M cash in her account??
Two full audits and nothing till the bank informs?? For something like to go unnoticed for 02 year, ETISALAT should be running hundreds of millions (if not billions) in idle accounts.
For the gentleman who is worried about banks being unprofessional about informing the employer, I guess you are not at all informed about the practices relating to anti money laundering???
CLICK HERE TO POST A COMMENT
Etisalat Probe
Posted by johndo at 12:08 UAE time
*Company officials said that the discovery of the case confirmed that the company's security procedures had worked.*
*The employee was caught after her bank noticed that her account had increased dramatically over a short period of time.*
Hmmm, I guess there is someone not accurate here. Etisalat, The Bank or The Press who wrote this article. I am sure no official will comment on this issue, or you will hear a nicely done piece by some PR agency after getting the necessary approvals from their legal department in order to be ... correct!!! I am really worried about those stories that are happening too often these days but I must salute the government for this clean up and hope that they continue doing. Most of us are here for economical or political reasons that forced us to leave our country, we always looked at the UAE in admiration for what its leaders have done in such a short time. Please carry on cleaning but don't stop at any level if big fishes are caught in the net as part of the transparency policy. Way to go UAE.
CLICK HERE TO POST A COMMENT
Am loving this
Posted by RP at 11:51 UAE time
Every time someone gets caught with their hands in the till recently, the comment from the company involved is to take the stance - this is a good thing.
How can someone getting away with siphoning Dhs 2 million in batches be a good thing?
How, in their words, can the case confirm "that the company's security procedures had worked" when it was the employees bank who blew the whistle on the whole deceit?
No wonder we have to pay so over the top charges here for basic telecommunications services - who knows how much more money is disappearing into accounts of people who have banks who will keep their mouths shut?
CLICK HERE TO POST A COMMENT
How?
Posted by SA at 11:28 UAE time
I am really surprised as to how she did it? I was the Head of the Payroll section in Etisalat in another branch two years back and I can tell you that Etisalat's system is very secure. Any payroll transaction that takes place is being reviewd by a team of payroll accountants in the Finance department and they used to come to us immediately if they see something strange or if some documents/stamps are missing. So there was no way anyone can steal a fils. How the hell did she do it?
CLICK HERE TO POST A COMMENT
and again...
Posted by AirMiles at 10:09 UAE time
Banks, construction and now telco. One step closer to having a formal, government level investigation department looking into every large national company and their finances to ensure they are not going to embarass the UAE. The currency of any market is confidence. The UAE cannot afford many more of these.
CLICK HERE TO POST A COMMENT
The irony...
Posted by Bonovox at 09:56 UAE time
How ironic. Etisalat has been taking its customers for a ride for years via its monopoly. Compare the Internet rates to those around the world and you can see the ridiculous difference. I suppose what goes around comes around...
CLICK HERE TO POST A COMMENT
Etisalat Fraud.
Posted by hombil at 09:23 UAE time
Over $7ml missing for more than two yeras and the Etisalat corporate communications manager Ahmed bin Ali says that that the company's security procedures had worked! Who is he trying to fool? There are too many questions, which need convincing replies.
Mobile
