Jailed and fined for no fault of his

Abu Dhabi: An Indian expatriate says he is afraid to travel home after he was arrested on two occasions at UAE airports and forced to pay Dh4,000 in Etisalat bills despite never owning a phone.

Madan Mohan Sharma, 55 who has worked for an offshore oil company in the UAE for 20 years said he was arrested by immigration officials at Abu Dhabi airport on March 6. He was handed over to airport police and accused of failing to pay Etisalat bills.

"I was locked up in the airport jail for three hours. Next morning at 4am, my feet were chained and I was taken to Madinat Zayed Jail," said Sharma.

"With leg shackles and carrying my luggage I had to walk to the jail. There my fetters were removed and I was locked up until 10am."

Police then handcuffed Sharma and took him to Asma Police Station. He was told to pay Dh3,928 or face a possible jail sentence. With only Dh2,000 on him at the time he had to borrow the rest from a friend. After paying the money Sharma was released at noon the next day. The police withheld his passport. Meanwhile, his worried family were still waiting for him to arrive at Delhi, India.

"I called my worried family who were waiting in Delhi airport and told them that I could not travel that day. Then, I rushed to Etisalat officials, who had made the complaint against me, and explained my fate."

Going through his papers, an Etisalat official told Sharma that he had been wrongly arrested. The official spoke to an Etisalat lawyer, who told Sharma to come to the Abu Dhabi Court next day. But the lawyer failed to show up at the court.

Refund

"I could meet the lawyer only on March 11, when a petition was submitted to the court to clear my name and to refund my money."

With the clearance paper Sharma went to Asma Police Station and collected his passport.

"After a long struggle, mental agony, wasting 6 days of my leave and spending more than Dh1,000, I could finally catch my flight to Delhi on March 13.

But Sharma's ordeal was not over yet. He reports that on his return journey from Delhi on March 22 he was arrested once more and handed over to airport police, this time at Dubai.

"I showed them the court clearance and my identity papers but in vain. "I was not allowed to collect my luggage. I was handcuffed to another person and taken to Dubai Police Headquarters at 4am," he said.

There an officer checked all my identity papers and the clearance issued by the Abu Dhabi Court and released me.

"Finally I located my luggage at a luggage counter and at 6.30am I had to rush to catch my helicopter flight to join my duty offshore," he said.

Meanwhile, Sharma says he is nervous about the next time he travels to see his family in India. His next leave in the first week of May. "I don't know what fate awaits me at UAE airports," he said.

Name trouble

Ahmad Bin Ali, Etisalat's manager corporate communications, said an arrest warrant was issued by the Abu Dhabi Court of First Instance against a Madan Mohan Sharma, an Etisalt defaulter, with details of his passport.

"Although the passport number of the man who was arrested at the airport did not match the defaulter's, due to holding an exactly similar name, the former had to go through this ordeal."

Bin Ali added that Etisalat had obtained clearance for Sharma, but could not figure out "why he had to be arrested again".

Major Khalid Mohammad Abdullah of Dubai International Airport said Madan Mohan Sharma was still on the blacklist. To clear his name, Sharma must submit the clearance issued by Abu Dhabi Court to Asma Police Station in Abu Dhabi.

"Sharma will be photographed, fingerprinted and have his name registered in the criminal system as a cleared person. Only then will Sharma not face any trouble at UAE airports because of his name."

Comment: By Nicholas Coates Associate Editor:
The practice of expecting the police to act as a debt collection agency should stop. It has been going on for too long.

The police are not in the business of chasing after bad debts. It is commerce that takes the risk and so it is commerce that must resolve the issue.

But, over time, as the police have assisted in debt collection, so commerce has become lazy in ensuring adequate measures are taken to protect their investment (and company). But such matters are civil issues, not criminal, unless it can be proven there was criminal intent.

Now, it appears immigration officials are also acting as debt collectors and arresting people at the point of exit or return.

This is invidious and must be stopped.

All banks, companies and any government bodies owed money should resort to private collection agencies.

The police are there for law enforcement, not to collect money.