A young African man is facing money laundering charges at the Ras Al Khainah Misdemeanour Court because of a suspicious Dh696,210 deposit he made into his bank account.
Investigations showed that the defendant was earning a monthly salary of only Dh5,000.
The huge amount of money was deposited into his account via an ATM machine in a span of two days, prompting the Central Bank to alert the organised crime section of the RAK Police's CID department.
The defendant, who was working as a sales agent, reportedly made the deposit into a newly opened account and issued cheques for big amounts of money.
According to the indictment sheet, the man failed to prove any legal source for the money he received.
He denied the charges in court, saying the cash came from his friend in an African country. Then, he wrote the cheques for a tyre trading company he was dealing with, the defendant claimed.
"My friend sent me this money to buy him tyres and export them back," he said, adding that he issued the cheque worth Dh686,070 to the tyre company as a deposit for the items he wished to order on behalf of his friend.
The trial was adjourned to a later date for the ruling.
