Dubai: A bouncer won a three-month suspended prison term after he defended in court that his employer maliciously accused him of bribery because he took him to the labour court.
The Dubai Court of First Instance on Monday handed the 34-year-old Egyptian bouncer a three-month suspended imprisonment after he was convicted of accepting a bribe.
Presiding Judge Hamad Abdul Latif Abdul Jawad granted the accused, H.M., a lenient sentence after he defended that his manager fabricated the bribery case immediately after winning the labour case. The court fined H.M. Dh1,000.
When the bouncer appeared in court earlier he claimed that he accepted Dh400 from Department of Tourism officials at the entrance to the nightclub where he worked thinking he was being tipped.
Prosecutors charged the accused with taking a bribe from three inspectors of the Department of Tourism to allow them into the nightclub.
"I didn't take or request any bribe. I am not guilty. Many clients pay us tips. It was not bribe… this is a fabricated case. The employees [officials] paid tip like any other regular client. I am a bouncer at the disco and clients normally tip us. My manager lodged this baseless case against me because I won a labour case against him. There was a labour dispute between us after I left work. He sued me out of malice," H.M. told Presiding Judge Abdul Jawad.
According to the arraignment sheet, H.M. demanded Dh400 from the tourism officials to allow them to enter one of the nightclubs in a five-star hotel on Shaikh Zayed Road.
Trying to survive
The claimant [H.M.'s manager] testified visitors [couples or regular customers] are allowed to enter the disco for free. "The club manager phoned me and claimed that H.M. took Dh400 to allow three inspectors from Department of Tourism into the club. They fined us Dh20,000. When I questioned the defendant about the incident, he told me ‘I'm trying to survive'," the manager testified.
The boss also claimed that H.M. told him that he had some friends in the Department of Tourism who could cancel the fine. Monday's judgment remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
