Dubai: A driving instructor and an inspector at a public driving institute were jailed for six months each for asking for Dh900 in bribe from a resident to help him pass his driving test.
The Egyptian resident had failed his driving examination repeatedly and couldn’t obtain a licence from the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) in Dubai.
Once he found a job at a government department and was required to get a licence, the resident opened a file at the driving institute and asked to have an Egyptian driving instructor to coach him.
The resident took training lessons with his 42-year-old countryman instructor for some time and then he passed the parking test.
When the resident was scheduled to sit for the city-driving test, the instructor told him that he could help him pass his driving test for Dh900 as he knew most of the inspectors scheduled to test him.
The resident reported the matter to the instructor’s supervisor and he was commissioned to cooperate with Dubai Police to have the instructor and the inspector apprehended in a sting operation.
The Egyptian instructor and the 54-year-old Bangladeshi inspector were apprehended for taking bribe from the resident.
The Dubai Court of First Instance fined the culprits Dh5,000 each for abusing their authority at the driving institute and requesting a bribe.
Records said the instructor had requested Dh600 in bribe while the Bangladeshi requested Dh300.
The duo pleaded not guilty in court.
A police lieutenant testified that the victim alerted them that the instructor had asked him for a bribe to help him pass the driving test.
“The resident had failed earlier and he had to repeat his training lessons. When the Egyptian accused told him that he could help him pass his driving test if he paid him money, he alerted us. We gave him police money [Dh900] that was photocopied to be used as future evidence against the defendants. The two were arrested in a sting operation after they accepted the money from the resident,” he said.
The defendants have appealed their judgements.
