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29 March 2024

Corrupt municipality staff caught red-handed

Published
By Eman Al Baik

A Dubai Municipality building inspector has been accused of receiving bribes from garages and establishments and for not issuing violation fines. He has been charged on 10 counts.

In May 2011, MAM, 28, visited a tyre trading company and found that partitions had been erected for an office and an extra floor. He asked one of the firm owners, MSS, 53, Indian, if he had obtained the necessary licences from the municipality.

MSS told him that he had been managing the firm for 20 years but he never knew that he had to obtain a licence for such partitions or get a municipality seal of approval.

The inspector told MSS that he would have to pay Dh10,000 fine or approach the municipality to get the licence immediately. The inspector offered to help the businessman obtain the necessary documents against a charge of Dh5,000.

MSS accepted the help and paid him Dh2,000 in advance to prepare a plan of the shop. He promised to pay the remaining Dh3,000 after receiving the papers.

“A week later I received a call from the inspector and he asked me to reach the shop where he would hand over the Municipality’s approval. I reached the shop and he gave me a paper that contained a map of the shop and in turn I handed him the remaining amount. After he left my shop, I saw a police patrol car stopping him and putting him into their car.

"The policemen approached me and asked me if I paid the inspector any amount, I told them my story and they told me that they would refer him to the court. A month later, I was asked to go to the court’s office in Al Tuwar where I received the Dh5,000 that I had paid the inspector and was asked to hand back the paper the accused had given me. The paper did not carry the municipality logo,” he testified.

Corporal Ahmad Ghloom testified that they had received a tip-off that the accused who was assigned to inspect buildings in Hatta area had exceeded his territory and was not only inspecting shops in Ras Al Khor area but also blackmailing shop owners there.

The police officials involved one of the victimised shopkeepers into their plan and laid a trap for the inspector. They arrested the inspector red-handed, he testified.

The accused followed the same modus operandi and collected Dh5,000 from 11 shops in the area, according to the records.

The court was adjourned for verdict until November 11.