Dubai
A Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) supervisor, who tests cars’ roadworthiness, has been jailed for six months for taking bribes to pass cars that failed the technical tests.
An informant alerted police that the 31-year-old Indian RTA supervisor [formerly] accepted bribes between Dh150 and Dh600 per vehicle to issue certificates about cars’ roadworthiness.
Records said the informant notified the police that a 23-year-old Pakistani tow-truck driver had constantly cooperated with the ex-supervisor by bringing him cars that had failed roadworthiness tests to be retested and issued a passing certificate against bribes.
Police contacted the supervisor’s cousin and agreed with him to be part of a sting operation by communicating with the 31-year-old accused to hand him a car that had failed in a previous test and have it retested and passed for money.
As part of the sting operation, the cousin was commissioned by the police to call up the 23-year-old driver, who took the car from the supervisor’s cousin, drove it to the testing centre where the defendant was stationed.
The supervisor drove the car into the usual testing hangar, completed the ordinary procedures, drove out the car and issued a certificate that it was safe to be driven on the roads.
Police arrested the Indian defendant and the Pakistani driver once they accepted the money that they had taken as a bribe to make the car pass.
The Dubai Court of First Instance also jailed the Pakistani defendant for six months for paying bribe to the other defendant.
According to the primary ruling, presiding judge Urfan Omar also fined the two defendants Dh5,000 each.
The 31-year-old accused was convicted of abusing his position [formerly] at the RTA and taking bribes to tamper with electronic transactions and issue roadworthiness certificates to failed cars.
The 23-year-old accused was convicted of aiding and abetting the other defendant by offering him a bribe.
The Indian pleaded not guilty in court. The two will be deported after serving their punishments.
The cousin cooperated with the police in a sting operation to have the 31-year-old apprehended for taking Dh150 as a bribe in February, said records.
The culprits were quoted as admitting to prosecutors that they used to take bribes to have cars that had failed in roadworthiness tests, to be retested and given roadworthiness certificates. The ruling remains subject to appeal within 12 days.
