Let’s fight against graft together: Prosecutor

dubai — Fighting corruption is everyone’s responsibility and abuse of power to make personal profits — however and whatever profits that might be — is also corruption, which should be fought, a top prosecutor has said.

Advocate-General Ismail Ali Madani, the head of the public funds prosecution, stressed that laws in the UAE should be complied with, and it is the duty of everyone to report on graft crimes.

“Breaching of any law or regulation of the country should be deemed as corruption. And the involved persons shall be tracked down, brought to justice and prosecuted to face the necessary penalties, in protection of the public funds,” Advocate-General Madani said.

In one case, the public prosecution has referred five persons, including a female manager of a Dubai-based ports company, to trial on bribery, forgery and money laundering charges, as per the Federal Penal Code of 1987 and its amendments till 2016, and a federal law issued in 2002 on money laundering, with recommendations from the prosecution to inflict the most severe penalties possible. The woman has been charged with seeking bribes worth about Dh5 million from contracting firms in return for helping them win tender bids in construction projects.

In another case, Counsellor Madani said that another public employee working as a purchase officer at a semi-public corporation solicited an illegal commission as a bribe, which is a percentage of the share he would get from the suppliers

Breaching any law of the country should be deemed as corruption. The involved persons shall be tracked down, brought to justice and prosecuted, in protection of the public funds.” Advocate-Gen Ismail Madani, head of public funds prosecution

for the purchase orders he would make for the corporation. The employee was referred to the Court of First Instance to face a bribery charge, as per the Federal Penal Code of 1987 and its amendments until 2006.

In a third case, according to counsellor Madani, the public funds prosecution has referred a person to the court on a breach of trust and felony for not declaring about the money he was carrying while entering the country through an airport. He failed to declare about Dh300,000 and another quantity equivalent to Dh61,000 in a foreign currency, which he had embezzled.

Besides, out of malice, he lied at the airport police centre that three unknown men had posed as cops to him, attacked him, and stole the said amount of money from him.