RTA inspectors cleared of graft charge

dubai — Two inspectors with Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), assigned with issuing tickets for illegal occupation of pavements, were cleared by the Court of First Instance of the charge of soliciting and collecting bribe.

Prosecution records showed that the two Emirati officers, aged 30 and 38, solicited Dh10,000 and collected Dh4,000 from an Indian cafeteria owner for the cancellation of four previous tickets, not making inspection visits and refraining from issuing more tickets in the future and helping him obtain the necessary permit to set up a sun shade in front of his shop.

The two officers were reported by the business owner and his Emirati sponsor. They were charged, in their capacity of public officers, with soliciting and collecting a bribe.

The investor said he owned a cafeteria in Al Rafaa and a beauty parlour on Khalid Bin Al Walid Road. One of the officers stopped him on August 17, 2015, as he was in a parking lot in Al Rafaa. “I told him I had paid Dh20,000 in deposit to the Dubai Municipality to obtain a temporary permit to set up a sun shade in front of my shop for six months. But he offered to help me obtain a permit to install a sun shade saying he had a friend in the RTA who can help.”

On September 1, one of the officers issued the complainant a Dh2,500 ticket as he told the prosecutor.

“When I called the other officer he asked me for Dh10,000.”

The owner informed his sponsor, who reported the two officers to the police.

mary@khaleejtimes.com