Abu Dhabi: A man posing as an inspector in the capital appeared before an Abu Dhabi court recently and was charged with collecting bribes from shop owners.
The shop owners testified against him at the Criminal Court of First Instance. According to the testimonies of H.M. and S.K., the defendant S.N., an Emirati, had come to their shops on a Thursday afternoon dressed as a police officer.
H.K. told the presiding judge, Chief Justice Sayed Abdul Bashir, head of the criminal justice section at the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, that S.N. had asked to inspect his shop.
Unhygienic shops
He had then told H.K. that because the shop was unhygienic and dirty, H.K. would have to pay a fine of Dh10,000 to the Abu Dhabi Municipality.
When H.K. said he could not pay the fine, S.N. demanded his trade licence, and asked for Dh1,000 if he wanted the licence returned.
He then took the money and drove off.
S.K., the second shop owner, gave a similar account of the defendant's activities to the court. S.K. said S.N. had ‘inspected' his shop and said it was dirty, then demanded a fine of Dh10,000. When S.K. said he could not pay such a hefty fine, the defendant said he would reduce the fine to Dh1,000 if S.K. paid up on the spot.
Licence number
An acquaintance who brought S.K. the sum of Dh1,000 noted down the licence plate number of the car in which the defendant drove away after collecting the bribes and S.K.'s trade licence.
S.N. denied the allegations against him and added that he had been at work at the time. He also said he had never seen the shop owners before.
When Justice Saeed Abdul Bashir asked S.N. why he had confessed to the crime, the defendant said he confessed under duress.
