Dubai: A driver has been accused of paying Dh50 in bribe to a Customs inspector for tea in return for evading Custom fees at the Hatta border checkpoint.
The 33-year-old Pakistani driver, I.M., was said to have driven his pickup truck loaded with curtains to the Hatta checkpoint where he offered Dh50 in bribe to the Customs inspector to allow him into Dubai without paying the required customary fees in May.
Prosecutors accused I.M. of offering a bribe to the inspector.
The suspect entered a not guilty plea when he appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Tuesday.
“I did not bribe him … I gave have him the money thinking that it was the customary fee,” the defendant argued before presiding judge Shaikha Hamad.
According to the charge sheet, prosecutors said the suspect offered the inspector a bribe to abuse his job and allow him to drive the curtains into Dubai without paying the customary fees.
The inspector testified to prosecutors that the incident happened at 7.30am once he reported to work at the checkpoint.
“The suspect has already been waiting at the border checkpoint when I reached work. I took his passport and entry permit and asked him to wait until I had reported my arrival to my boss. When I went back, he was gone. My colleagues informed me that he had driven off towards the UAE side. I followed him and made him come back to the checkpoint. When I asked him why he didn’t wait, he alleged that one of my colleagues had granted him permission to leave. The suspect asked me not to make him pay for the curtains that were loaded in the back of his truck … he claimed that the curtains were for his personal use and not for commercial purposes. Then he came to me and offered me around Dh50 [in Omani currency] and told me ‘drink tea with it, my friend’. I took the money and put it inside his passport, then I took him to my supervisor and reported what happened,” claimed the inspector.
A ruling will be heard soon.
