Dubai: A policeman has been accused of taking a bribe from a driver in order to cancel his traffic violation, the Dubai Criminal Court heard on Monday.
The 24-year-old policeman, A.A., was charged with asking for a Dh3,000 bribe from a British driver, R.D., after pulling him over for taking an unauthorised U-turn in Al Barsha.
The suspect denied the charges at the Dubai Criminal Court on Monday and asked for a lawyer to present his defence.
“This did not happen. This never happened,” he told presiding judge Ezzat Abdullah Mansour.
R.D. told prosecutors that the policeman had pulled him over on June 22 and told him that he had violated traffic rules which could have caused a big accident, and that the fine for that would cost him Dh2,500-Dh3,000 including a 30-day impounding of his car. The policeman then decided to give R.D. his number and told him that he would call him once his duty was over to take the money from him in the same place. He also mentioned that he would have to pay him the fine of Dh3,000 and an additional Dh2,500 to avoid the impoundment.
R.D. said that he was suspicious about the way the fine was handled and the fact that the policeman did not register the fine in the system, but was still asking for money. Upon asking his friends, he said, he found out that the fine for taking an unauthorised U-turn is only Dh450.
R.D. decided to file a complaint to the police explaining the situation. He then cooperated with Dubai Police who arrested the suspect in a sting operation immediately after he collected the money in a parking area behind a hotel.
A lieutenant testified that after arresting the suspect, he claimed that the money was his, but upon asking him again, he confessed that he took Dh3,000, but it was based on an agreement between him and R.D. earlier to not register the fine or impound the car.
Meanwhile, another police officer testified that during his duty, when he met A.A. who was not on duty, A.A. had told him to speak to a British man because he was more fluent in English, and to decide on a time to meet at the car registration station in Al Barsha. When the police officer asked A.A. why he was meeting this British man, he told him there was a deal between the two related to exchanging their cars for an amount of money.
The case has been adjourned to October 16.
