A Canadian woman, 38 has been accused of illegally working as a dermatologist in Dubai, attempting to use forged documents to obtain a medical license and then threatening the authorities while posing as a member of the UAE Cabinet, Dubai Criminal Court heard.
Prosecutors said that in 2015, the woman was approached online by an Emirati man, 42, who had opened a clinic. He then hired her as a dermatologist.
"I started searching for the best dermatologists and found that she was very famous online and that she had treated celebrities. My brother contacted her and she agreed to join the clinic in return for half the profits," said the clinic's owner.
He said that he met the woman in May 2016, they signed contracts and she provided him with her certificates.
"She told us she graduated in Chicago, US, and provided us with her papers, which we submitted to the [Dubai Health Authority] through a company to start issuing her license," the Emirati man said.
After applying for the license, the woman began working at the clinic, during which time she told other employees that she was very close to the royal family in Dubai. A letter later arrived from the DHA saying that the defendant's certificates were not genuine, therefore he suspended her from work.
The Egyptian manager, 32, of the company that carries out inspections on certificates submitted to the DHA for licensing said: "As per procedures, we received the application and the attached certificates from [the DHA] in order to contact the entities that issued each certificate. When we did in this case, both institutions to which the 'dermatologist's' certificates were attributed said they did not issue the certificates and that her name was not among their lists of medicine and medical specializations graduates."
Following the findings, the company issued a report saying that the defendant had failed to be approved for a license, after which they received a threatening email from what appeared to be an Emirati man who claimed to be the Dubai Ruler's advisor.
"The email said we should stop our inspections and pass the application of the defendant, who he said was sponsored by his highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid," said the manager.
Prosecutors traced the email address and summoned the account holder for investigation – an Emirati man, 40, who works as a consultant at the UAE Cabinet.
"I met her once in my life after she contacted me on Linkedin," said the man.
He said that she contacted him in September 2016 and following a number of messages on Linkedin, she told him she was coming to Dubai that same month and would like to meet him.
"We met at a hotel's lobby and she told me about her work in a clinic and asked for my help in her license issue. I told her I cant do anything."
"As for the email, I think she created an email address similar to mine, which is publicly posted on my LinkedIn account. Then she used it to send the email to the company, which I have never heard of before this incident," he said.
In court on Sunday morning the woman denied charges of forgery, presenting false certificates and issuing threats to the licensing authority.
The next hearing will be on March 4.