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28 March 2024

Officer bribed for issuing illegal visas

Published
By Eman Al Baik

An officer at Dubai’s General Directorate of Residency and Foreign Affairs allegedly took Dh40,000 in bribes from a Pakistani businessman for issuing residence visas to ineligible expatriates of different Asian nationalities, the Dubai Criminal Court heard.
 
YS, 23, assistant service officer, is accused of processing about 83 illegal residence visas against bribes of Dh500 per spouse or adult and Dh300 for each child.
 
He is also accused of forging and using forged electronic documents.
 
Businessman RA, 39, is also accused of offering bribes to a public servant.
 
In September, the department received information that officer YS, who worked at DRFA’s Naif branch,  is processing visa applications that did not meet conditions for sponsorship --like salary, applicant’s profession, accommodation, labour contract, marriage contract -- against bribes, testified First Corporal Tareq Abdullah.
 
The department checked the information and found out that a Pakistani businessman supplied the officer with illegal transactions against bribes.
 
The officer using his ID code fed the applications into the electronic system and issued visas to those who did not meet the conditions. It was found out that he processed 83 ineligible visa applications.
 
The Department’s Preventive Security confronted the officer with the findings. The officer admitted to processing ineligible visa applications.
 
He told investigators that he met the businessman in 2007 when the latter came to the department for transactions related to employees of the company in which he was a partner.
 
In 2014, the businessman asked the officer to issue family sponsorship visas to expatriates who are not entitled to or failed to meet the conditions against bribes.
 
“Initially I refused that but after repeated requests, I accepted,” admitted the officer.
 
In August 2015, the businessman started submitting visa applications that did not meet the conditions and rules to the officer.  The latter then affixed residence visas on passports.
 
The accused admitted to taking Dh40,000 in bribes against issuing and renewing 83 illegal visas.
 
The department then agreed with the officer to trap and catch the businessman red handed.
 
On October 6, the officer and the businessman agreed to meet at a parking lot in Naif to collect illegal visa applications.
 
The businessman was arrested after a few days while collecting the processed illegal transactions and offering a bribe of Dh2,600 to the officer.
 
The investor admitted to collecting applications from expatriates ineligible to sponsor their families.

The court will reconvene on February 3.