Man in dock for offering bribe to Dubai Civil Defence official

dubai — A sales executive at a fire safety equipment company has been charged in the Court of First Instance with offering a bribe to a civil defence inspector.

According to the public prosecution records, the 27-year-old Indian man sought the inspector’s help in getting a safety certificate issued for a site which did not meet the fire safety norms.

The executive first promised to pay the inspector Dh2,500 and give him a smartphone worth Dh2,500. He later handed him Dh2,000 and a perfume worth Dh300.

The accused approached, called and met the inspector on April 8 and 9.

“The Dubai Municipality and the Dubai Economy and others — like insurance companies — request their customers who own businesses, which are to be opened or already in place, to present preventive safety certificates. Those certificates are required to have a trading licence issued and should be obtained from the General Directorate of Civil Defence,” the 27-year-old inspector told the prosecutor.

“Before issuing such certificates, a civil defence inspector should visit the site in the presence of the contractor and a technician or an engineer from the company that installed the safety equipment.

“I was at a restaurant when the accused approached me and asked for help. He then said he would contact me later.”

The defendant, who got the inspector’s number from the list of inspectors in the system, kept sending him messages on WhatsApp.

“He talked about presents, including a smartphone, which would be the gift for my help. I informed my superior who reported the matter to the criminal investigation department. I was instructed to meet the accused and help in catching him redhanded offering the bribe,” the inspector said.

He met the accused around 4pm on April 9, in the parking lot of a shopping centre. “He showed me a transaction saying he needed my help. He said the transaction was not processed after another inspector visited the site of the shop in Al Muhaisnah and found it did not meet the safety conditions. He wanted me to get him that certificate issued without carrying out another inspection visit as the violations were not removed,” the inspector said.

“He gave me Dh700 and a perfume telling me to follow him to Al Warqa where he handed me Dh1,300. He said there would be further deals between us in the future and there would be amounts up to Dh20,000 for certificates needed in inspections on gas installation at labour accommodations.”

After paying him the money, the accused stepped off the inspector’s car. He was arrested then. The ‘bribe money’ was seized and so was the paper he gave the inspector.

mary@khaleejtimes.com