DUBAI// A Syrian man has lost his appeal against a one-year jail term for offering a bribe so that an inspector would ignore rules violations at nightclubs.
Between December last year and February this year, Syrian Z A, 47, an investor, tried to convince the inspector from the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing to accept a Dh15,000 bribe.
The inspector B A, 28, an Emirati, testified that he was responsible for checking on nightclubs to see if they had transgressed any laws.
He said that some nightclubs would violate regulations by allowing customers wearing the traditional Khaleeji dress to dance or allowing dancers to mingle with customers and open bottles of alcohol for them. Other infractions included having dancers strip down to their underwear.
“The fine for any of these violations would be between Dh10,000 and Dh50,0000,” said the inspector.
The nightclubs in question, which were owned by a friend of the defendant, received fines between Dh20,000 and Dh40,000 for these offences.
B A said: “In November last year he followed me when I left the club and asked to meet me in Ajman or Sharjah. He told me that I would benefit from meeting him,” he said.
B A informed his supervisor who advised him to play along.
He them met with Z A in December 2013 where he was handed a list of nightclubs.
Z A said if B A spotted any violations in them, he would pay him Dh10,000 if it was one violation and Dh15,000 if there were two.
“He also told me that I would keep receiving bribes for a year or two,” said B A.
The defendant was arrested in a sting operation on February 11 when he met with the inspector and handed him the bribe.
Despite protesting his innocence, Z A was convicted and sentenced to a year.
On Sunday, he lost his appeal and also had a deportation order added to his sentence.
salamir@thenational.ae
