Dubai: The owner of a medical centre has been cleared of luring a woman manager to his office where he hugged her and tried to kiss her.

The medical centre’s Indian manager was reported to have been at her workplace when the 58-year-old countryman owner called her to his office in August.

Once she entered his office, the owner praised the manager’s beauty and turned flirtatious as he described her physical appearance.

The manager said the owner’s behaviour disturbed her. The man then came in her way, hugged her and tried to kiss her when she wanted to walk away.

The manager remained silent about what had happened until the owner repeated the behaviour in December when she resigned and left work.

On Wednesday, the Dubai Court of First Instance acquitted the Indian suspect of molesting the woman and breaching her privacy and modesty due to lack of substantiated evidence.

“She fabricated this case. She lodged it out of malice because there is a labour dispute between us,” the Indian owner told the court, as he pleaded not guilty.

The medical centre owner contended before the presiding judge: “The complainant asked me for money to drop her case. She fabricated this case after alleging that she hadn’t taken her salary.”

The woman manager alleged that the suspect molested her the first time when he called her to his office in August.

“He spoke in a flirtatious manner with me. When I tried to leave his office, he hugged me and tried to kiss me. I remained silent about what had happened the first time because I didn’t have a solid proof to justify my compliant. In December, he spoke to me flirtatiously when he spoke loudly and bluntly before colleagues about my figure and beauty. He tried to pull up my sleeves … I resigned and left the centre,” she testified to prosecutors.

An Indian receptionist told prosecutors that she saw the suspect lift the sleeves of the manager’s shirt.

“His attitude irritated her … she didn’t say a word but she only pulled herself back. She kept on reporting to work for around 10 days until she told me that she had resigned. Several co-workers had resigned from the centre for mismanagement and non-payment of salaries,” she testified to prosecutors.

The ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.