Dubai: A female manager in a government company has been sentenced to 18 months in jail for seeking Dh4.85 million in bribes to pass tenders in two dubious deals, a Dubai Court of Appeal ruled on Wednesday.

The accused, an Emirati, was also fined Dh4.85 million.

In the first case, she was found guilty of demanding Dh500,000 in bribes — for herself and a Syrian woman colleague — from an Egyptian manager to help his construction company win a villa construction tender at Jumeirah Hills.

In the second case, she was found guilty of demanding Dh4.35 million — also for herself and her Syrian colleague — from a construction company’s Jordanian chief executive to help his company win a tender to construct a seaport terminal in Dubai.

The Syrian, who was sentenced to a year in jail by the Dubai Court of First Instance, had her sentence suspended by the appeal court for testifying against the manager. She reported the crime to authorities when she did not receive her share of the bribes. According to her lawyer, her testimony was take twice by prosecutors — once as a witness and once as a defendant.

Both the Egyptian and Jordanian offered bribes to the manager through her Syrian colleague.

The Egyptian was handed one-year imprisonment and fined Dh500,000.

The Jordanian was sentenced to a year in jail and fined Dh4.35 million while a Lebanese manager was handed three months in jail for his role in the deal.

According to records, the Jordanian, Lebanese and Syrian defendants forged an agreement signed between the Jordanian’s company and a technical services company.

According to the agreement, the technical services company would provide consultations and strategic support to the construction company to win the tender to construct the seaport terminal against a 6 per cent commission of Dh72.5 million (the total cost of the project).

Prosecutors also accused the Emirati, Jordanian, Lebanese and Syrian defendants of committing a money laundering crime involving Dh2.17 million.

The financial irregularities were committed between January 2012 and March 2014.

The four expatriate defendants pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

They will be deported and all the money paid as bribes confiscated by the court.