Vinod from Kerala issued flight tickets and packages, but allegedly did not post the money collected from clients to company’s accounts.
New Delhi
The CBI has launched a hunt for an Indian fugitive who allegedly duped an Abu Dhabi-based travel company, in which he was employed as a travel consultant, of dirham 148,2697 (Rs 3.3 crore).
Vinod Vasudevan, 40, a Kerala resident, while working in Omeir Travel Agency issued flight tickets and holiday packages as part of his job but did not post the money collected from clients to the company accounting section. He had been working in the company since 2008. He had left UAE for Bahrain on October 7, 2018 and was later tried in absentia in a court in Abu Dhabi and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, according to CBI.
Earlier, a request for local prosecution was received from the UAE by the Ministry of External Affairs. The MEA, in turn, forwarded the matter to the CBI to trace the fugitive and take forward the proceedings against him for the offence of breach of trust.
In another case, a fugitive Indian, originally from Kolkata, has also come on CBI’s radar for his alleged involvement in embezzlement of dirham 320,000 (Rs 72 lakh) at a company in UAE.
Sanjoy Kumar Datta, 53, a resident of Thakurpukur in Kolkata, conspired while working as an accountant in United Eastern Medical Service in UAE. He allegedly misappropriated the company funds by mis-invoicing the company between 2015 and 2017. He was working in the company since 2008.
As per the UAE prosecutors, Dutta was responsible for all electricity, water, communication and parking bills of the company and its affiliates.
The company said it found during an internal audit that there was a big difference between the invoices it received and the amounts delivered to him by the company to settle the payments, amounting to AED 320,000.
The company said when Datta was confronted by company seniors, he admitted the wrongdoing and promised to return this amount. Datta also gave a signed letter to the company confirming his alleged wrongdoing and promised to return the amount.
The company alleged that since Datta was incharge of settling the invoices of the company, he was taking more than the invoiced amounts and keeping the difference for himself.
An Abu Dhabi Court for First Instance (Misdemeanor Chamber) had in 2019 issued its judgment in absentia by imprisoning Datta, against the charges assigned to him, for one year followed by deportation. Datta’s date of last departure, as per the records of UAE authorities, is November 5, 2017 through Dubai International Airport.