A large number of managers, supervisors, and sales staff allegedly terminated for fake fuel transactions
Several site managers, supervisors and salesmen of a leading fuel marketing company in the UAE have been terminated after they were found involved in a wide network to swindle money by engaging in fake sales transactions to cheat companies and corporate clients, according to senior company officials who recently held a crisis control meeting to alert the staff about fraud.
The pilot version of an automated payment system was introduced in June last year to control fraud by minimising human involvement in payment collection and fuel dispensing. The system was found effective and had been installed in most of the company’s gas stations by last month.
Ever since the mass installation of the system, about 100 staff members have been terminated after they were found indulging in fraud, company sources revealed.
The crackdown on the alleged nexus of a number of private company drivers and executives, salesmen and managers at petrol stations was detected after a new state-of-the-art fuel dispensing system was introduced recently.
The company did not respond to our queries, but during an earlier meeting with this reporter, company officials acknowledged the prevalence of fraud. This reporter was informed that Dubai Court cases have been filed against erring employees. “As police cases are going on, we don’t want to comment on this,” a senior manager told this reporter in response to written queries.
The fake bills were allegedly produced in connivance with managers and salesmen of fuel dispensing stations. Many companies in the UAE have procured fuel cards to facilitate petrol filling, but company managers and drivers allegedly misused the same facility and made money by showing fake bills without actually filling petrol in corporate vehicles.
