DUBAI // A Public Prosecution employee pocketed Dh154,000 after altering 103 court rulings, Dubai Criminal Court heard.
The Emirati man, 21, worked at the criminal rulings execution section.
His work was to detect and correct mistakes in data entered by clerks. He was also responsible for processing or issuing arrest warrants.
He was charged with asking for and accepting bribes, abusing his authority at the section, accessing the internal filing system and changing the contents of judgments issued in absentia against defendants between January 2015 and March 2016.
Three Indians, aged 27, 32, and 41, a Jordanian who worked at the bail section at the public prosecution department, 46, a Yemeni transport authority inspector, 48, as well as two other Indians who remain at large were all charged with aiding and abetting the 21-year-old defendant.
Five were present and denied charges in court on Thursday.
Records showed that the Emirati defendant received bribes of between Dh1,000 to Dh1,500 from the other suspects in order to change rulings from the the courts of misdeamneaours, appeal and residency. He made these rulings more lenient.
He then handed them print out copies of the altered judgments after saving them on the system.
Based on these forged judgments, the people against who these verdicts were issued could easily cancel arrest warrants issued against them.
In one case, the Emirati replaced a six-month jail term with a Dh10,000 fine for a man who was convicted of issuing a bad cheque.
In another ruling, the Emirati changed a Dh200,000 fine to become Dh10,000. He also forged a judgment from six months in jail to be followed by deportation into a fine of just Dh2,000.
The Jordanian’s suspect’s parents were present in court and the defendant begged the court to allow him to kiss their heads after he pleaded not guilty.
The lawyers present with all defendants requested their bail.
“Let them spend Ramadan with their families, they have been in custody for 14 months,” said lawyer Saeed Al Ghilani.
The next hearing will be on June 19.
salamir@thenational.ae
