Ex-administrator gets 10 years for abuse of office

Dubai: A former administrator was awarded a 10-year prison term for abusing his office at the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing and embezzling Dh90,000 to renew the permit of a leisure tent.

The Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced the 26-year-old Emirati defendant, A.S., in absentia to 10 years in jail after he was convicted of abuse of public office, embezzling public funds and issuing a forged document claiming that the leisure tent's permit was renewed.

According to yesterday's judgment, the presiding judge fined A.S. Dh90,000 and ordered him to repay the same amount to the department.

Prosecutors accused A.S. of abusing his position at the department, embezzling public funds and issuing a forged document to renew the permit of the leisure tent at a five-star hotel in Jumeirah.

Senior Chief Prosecutor Esmail Ali Madani, Head of Public Funds Prosecution, asked for the implementation of the toughest punishment applicable.

According to the Federal Penal Code's article 225, a suspect could face imprisonment of 3-15 years in jail for abusing his/her public office and embezzling public funds.

It is worth mentioning that last year Dubai's highest court issued what was then described as the ‘toughest punishment in graft and corruption cases' after four executives were jailed for 10 years each over a Dh1.8 billion fraud at Dubai Islamic Bank.

The judge yesterday sentenced A.S. in absentia after he failed to attend his trial. According to the Criminal Procedures Law, A.S. is entitled to a retrial before the Court of First Instance after he turns himself in to the Public Prosecution's Criminal Rulings Execution Section.

Prosecution records said the defendant worked in the client services section for tourism permits.

Public Funds' prosecutors said A.S. unlawfully pocketed money for his own benefit. The hotel's representative paid him Dh90,000 to renew the permit of their leisure tent after it expired.

He was accused of forging two official documents, the permit and the receipt [that he had collected the money]. A.S. was also charged with dishonestly using the department's stamp on the renewed permit.

An Emirati executive at the department testified that a manager at the group which runs the hotel visited them. "He presented a photocopy of a temporary permit for the leisure tent. He claimed to me that the Dubai Municipality inspectors visited the tent site to check the permit's validity and authenticity. When the inspectors could not find the original permit, they asked the manager to visit us at the department and obtain the original permit. The original permit turned out to be a fake and was tampered with," said the executive.