Pinoy, son charged for running loan racket in UAE

A Filipino barber and his son in the United Arab Emirates faced a court Wednesday over charges they were running a loan racket that involved an illegal 10-percent commission.

The barber, 65, and his son, 36, were charged before the Dubai Court of First Instance for lending money to an undetermined number of people in this way.

But the two denied the allegations and entered a not guilty plea before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Wednesday, UAE news site Gulf News reported Thursday.

The lawyer of the two Filipinos asked presiding judge Maher Salama Al Mahdi to hear prosecution witnesses when the court reconvenes on November 17.

Arrest

Citing prosecution records, the Gulf News report said the two were arrested at Jumeirah Beach Road last May 2.

At the time, the son was seen standing in front of an automated teller machine, using 10 credit cards to withdraw cash in three hours.

One Emirati police lieutenant testified the police acted on a tip that the two Filipinos had been using the same ATM for three hours.

He said a police patrol team rushed to the scene and arrested the son, then took him to the Dubai Police Cybercrime Section for questioning.

Police seized from him 24 credit cards that belonged to other people, along with Dh21,000 cash.

“Upon questioning, (the son) confessed that he used to lend money to people against their credit cards as a guarantee. The defendant claimed that the debtors used to give him the pin of each credit card so that whenever the payment was due he would withdraw the amount of the loan in addition to the 10 percent commission," he said.

A subsequent police raid on the Filipino's house yielded some Dh60,000 cash and 324 credit cards that belonged to other people.

The younger Filipino allegedly admitted he took the credit cards from the debtors to guarantee that they would repay the loans.

But he claimed it was his father who ran the operation. The police lieutenant said the elder Filipino was also arrested and confessed to the racket.

The Gulf News report said one of the supposed debtors was a 34-year-old Filipino technician who said he borrowed Dh500 from the younger Filipino and repaid Dh550.

“I handed him my credit card and the PIN. When the payment was due, (the younger Filipino) withdrew Dh550 from the credit card. I borrowed money from him twice,” he testified. — LBG, GMA News

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more