Dubai: A former passport control officer has been jailed for two years for accepting Dh2.65 million in bribes to forge e-transactions of departure fees of 5,291 people.

The 30-year-old Emirati ex-passport control officer at Dubai’s General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners’ Affairs (GDRFA) accepted Dh2.65 million in bribes to forge e-transactions of departure fees.

The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the defendant, A.A., of abusing his former job when he was stationed at Dubai International Airport’s arrivals terminal and forging the electronic transactions of departure fees over a period of five years.

“The accused has been fined Dh2.65 million,” said presiding judge Maher Salama Al Mahdi in courtroom three on Wednesday.

Prosecutors said A.A. used his authority to access GDRFA’s e-system and forge the transactions by showing in the system that the departure fees were collected despite the fact that the concerned people hadn’t left the country.

“That is not true. I did not take any bribe or forge any transaction,” argued the defendant before the court.

Meanwhile his lawyer argued that his client did not commit the crime and asked the court to dismiss the case for lack of corroborated evidence.

Prosecution records said the defendant committed the acts between August 2007 and August 2012.

According to the charge sheet, the defendant tampered with details on the departure fee transactions on GDRFA’s e-system. He collected bribes to the tune of Dh500 per person.

A GDRFA officer said the malpractice was revealed after an informant alerted them that the defendant collected bribes against forging transactions of departure fees.

“The informant said A.A. manipulated the e-system and entered details regarding payment of departure fees of Asians without them having to leave the country. Our inspections revealed that the defendant carried out transactions of departure fees despite the fact that he worked in the arrivals terminal. Investigations revealed that the defendant used his computer at the arrivals terminal, accessed GDRFA’s e-system and falsified the transactions. Dnata records confirmed that the 5,291 people concerned hadn’t left the country,” the officer claimed.

Records cited the defendant as admitting that he used to collect the money from a Pakistani man named M.B. in Al Quoz.

He alleged that he was in dire need of money because he was the sole supporter of his family, according to prosecution records.

The primary ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.