Bus driver challenges fraud case conviction
By Nour Abuzant
A KARWA bus driver has challenged his conviction by a Doha court for embezzlement and sought a retrial by the same bench.
The driver was given five years in jail by a Doha court of first instance for embezzling QR30,506 from Mowasalat, the public transport company that runs the Karwa services.
He was ordered to return the money to the company. The court also fined him the same sum and ordered his immediate dismissal.
The verdict was given in absentia and the Filipino challenged it when he learnt about it.
According to the charge sheet, the accused pocketed a part of the fare collected from passengers between February 10 and May 19 last year.
The accused told the investigators that he sent part of the money (QR5,000) to his family.
The 31-year-old man had been working with Mowasalat since November 6, 2005 and he was allotted the Industrial area- Central bus stand route.
His responsibilities included collecting fare from passengers and depositing the money at the company’s office at the end of each day.
The operations manager of Karwa discovered the “fraud” when he reviewed the ticketing machine and compared it with the money deposited by the driver.
The court said that the accused took money that did not belong to him for his personal gain.
Explaining the five- year term, the court said that it was given after considering the type of crime, the influence of it on society and the circumstances behind it.
Source: http://www.gulf-times.com
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