Al Ain: The Al Ain Court for Civil, Commercial and Administrative Cases has ordered a former employee to pay AED619,989 to his employer after being found liable for embezzling more than one kilogram of gold from the company.The court also ordered the defendant to pay AED10,000 in compensation and AED500 in legal fees.According to court records, the employer discovered a shortage of more than one kilogram of gold during a routine inventory check. An internal investigation concluded that the defendant, who had worked for the company for more than 17 years, had embezzled the missing quantity.The employer stated that the defendant admitted the embezzlement and signed a commitment to repay the value of the gold through monthly instalments of AED3,000. However, he later failed to honour the agreement, prompting the company to file a criminal complaint.The court appointed an expert to determine the quantity and value of the missing gold. The expert concluded that the defendant had embezzled pure gold worth approximately AED619,989.The company subsequently sought repayment of the amount, compensation for damages and legal costs.A criminal court had previously convicted the defendant of embezzling movable property entrusted to him as an agent and initially sentenced him to six months in prison. The civil claim was referred to the competent civil court, while the Court of Appeal later replaced the prison sentence with a AED20,000 fine.In its judgment, the civil court stated that criminal rulings are binding on civil courts regarding facts that have already been conclusively established, including the occurrence of the offence, its legal characterisation and the identity of the perpetrator.The court noted that the criminal judgment had already confirmed that the defendant embezzled gold belonging to the plaintiff and entrusted to him in the course of his work.Based on those findings and the expert report, the court ordered the defendant to pay AED619,989, in addition to AED10,000 in compensation and AED500 in lawyer's fees.
