ABU DHABI // A municipality official and his son, who were accused of embezzling millions of dirhams from the municipality, have been cleared by the court of cassation.
The Emirati head of excavation at the municipality’s agriculture department in Al Ain was accused of issuing documents and orders to contract the company owned by his son to dig wells. He then allocated amounts larger than what the service was worth to be paid to them. The crime was discovered when the company requested the extra payment from the municipality, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors charged the son with conspiring with his father over the alleged actions between 2001 and 2005.
On May 30, 2011, the Al Ain Criminal Court sentenced both defendants to three years in jail, and a Dh181.18 million fine to be divided between them.
Both appealed against the verdict, and on March 3 this year, the Appeals Court acquitted them of all charges.
Public prosecution appealed against the verdict at the Cassation Court, arguing that the pair were cleared because they continued to deny their charges and denied incriminating evidence.
Despite the father’s admission that he issued the documents, the Appeals Court did not take that into consideration because it was not able to confirm whether the documents were approved by the authorised parties.
The son was cleared because the case files lacked proof and he was considered an Emirati sponsor for the company who got an annual amount of Dh10,000 from shareholders.
He was said to have no direct connection to the assignments the company carried out.
Public prosecution, however, argued that he was the sole owner of the company and its sole representative and that he signed the contracts that led to the municipality’s complaint.
hdajani@thenational.ae
