(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Two inspectors with the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), assigned with issuing tickets for illegal occupation of pavements, stood trial in the Court of First Instance on the charge of soliciting Dh10,000 in bribes from a cafeteria owner.
Prosecution records showed that the two Emirati officers - aged 30 and 38 - solicited Dh10,000 and collected Dh4,000 from the Indian cafeteria owner in return for the cancellation of four previous tickets and refraining from issuing more tickets in the future. They also offered to help him obtain 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 are charged with soliciting and collecting a bribe in their capacity of public officers. The 31-year-old investor said that 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 to ask him about his car papers. When asked about the businesses he owned, the owner replied that he owned a cafeteria. The officer said he knew the shop and asked the owner about the sunshade in front of the shop. "I told him I had been fined and then paid Dh20,000 in deposit to the Dubai Municipality to obtain a temporary permit to set up a sun shade for six months. But the officer said it was a RTA matter and not of the municipality. He asked me whether I needed a local sponsor in any of my businesses. As I told him I already have a sponsor, he offered to help me obtain a permit to install a sun shade, saying he had a friend in the RTA who can help." Around 5pm on the same day, the other officer visited the cafeteria and issued a notice to remove the sun shade within 24 hours or he would issue an official ticket of Dh10,000 later. "When I called the first officer whom I met earlier, he asked me about the sum I was willing to pay and I said anything." The other officer came again later and gave them another notice. When the investor and his sponsor visited the RTA to inquire about the matter, they were asked to lodge a complaint with the authority. On September 1, one of the officers issued the complainant a Dh2,500 ticket. "When I called the other officer, who had given me his personal number, he asked me for Dh10,000 saying he desperately needed the money and he would help me get the permit and stop further tickets." The owner informed his sponsor who reported the two officers to the CID. On September 4, a ticket of Dh5,000 was also issued after which the officers asked for Dh2,000 and then settled for Dh500 to stop issuing such tickets. The CID officers arrested the inspectors on September 8 after giving the shop owner a mobile phone with a recorder. A verdict is expected on October 11.
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