Dubai clinic clerk jailed for selling forged sick-leave certificates

A Dubai clinic clerk and several accomplices have been sentenced to prison for orchestrating a scheme to sell forged electronic sick-leave certificates. The defendants were convicted of document forgery, breach of trust, and corporate fraud.

Using the clinic’s electronic health portal, the clerk generated backdated medical certificates and applied forged digital signatures of physicians without their knowledge or consent. The scheme allowed employees to claim paid leave for unverified illnesses, with the clerk charging between several hundred and over 1,000 AED per document.

The fraud was discovered after a private company’s human resources department noticed a pattern of sudden, recurring sick leave among employees, all bearing digital stamps from the same clinic. Following an investigation by Dubai Police, the court rejected defense arguments that the actions were merely administrative lapses, ruling that the defendants had knowingly abused the electronic system and falsified official records. In addition to prison terms, the court imposed fines and ordered the deportation of expatriate defendants upon completion of their sentences.