Dubai RTA employee jailed for altering records

DUBAI // A senior Dubai Roads and Transports Authority employee has been jailed for six months and fined Dh150,000 after being found guilty of altering his name on official documents and forging court papers to hide the fact he had a criminal record.

The 40-year-old Emirati added another letter to his name on his passport, Emirates ID and the RTA’s electronic system and forged a criminal status letter from Dubai Public Prosecution to state that he was not wanted on any criminal case when he was in fact involved in impersonation, forgery, and fraud cases.

The head of the disputes department at the RTA, a 33-year-old Emirati, said the defendant was reported to him for abusing his position and accepting gifts including cars from rental companies in return to facilitating procedures.

“When we double checked his file, we discovered his surname on some official documents was different from previous copies in our possession,” he said, adding that the criminal status certificate was found to have been forged so the matter was reported to police.

The documents were submitted between August 2003 and August 2013 while the abuse of power cases date back to 2004, 2007 and 2011.

The defendant denied charges against him but was convicted of forging documents by Dubai Criminal Court.