DUBAI // An operations manager for an engineering firm has denied accepting bribes worth almost Dh116,000 to favour a bid for a steel supply contract.
On Sunday, prosecutors told the Criminal Court that Irishman A O, 29, had requested the bribe from an industrial company that specialises in selling steel.
A O allegedly agreed that he would approve this company’s bid over others if they paid him bribes.
Court records show that during his employment from June 2010 to July 2011, three cheques worth Dh115,977 were deposited in his bank account.
J O, 53, also from Ireland, who owns the engineering company, said he had noticed a discrepancy in the price of the order of steel approved by A O.
“I sat with him but he was defending this company and saying that its prices were suitable,” J O said.
J O then had his wife contact the industrial company, where she managed to find out that A O had received three cheques in return for selecting that specific company’s bid.
After being confronted with this in July 2011, A O resigned.
“The following month I met with him and recorded our meeting, in which he confessed to taking the bribe,” J O said.
He said he had given A O a chance to repay the money, but that he had kept stalling.
“Then he surprised me when he lodged a malicious complaint against me, accusing me of kidnapping him and stealing his money. The complaint was dropped when no evidence was found,” J O said.
The next hearing will be on June 17.
salamir@thenational.ae
