Passport control officer loses appeal bid

The man's jail term and a Dh150,000 fine were upheld by Dubai Court of Appeal.

DUBAI // A passport control officer who took Dh400,000 in bribes for altering records has lost his appeal against a one-year prison sentence.

His jail term and a Dh150,000 fine were upheld by Dubai Court of Appeal.

Two Pakistanis, 29 and 40, convicted of aiding and abetting, and each sentenced to a year in jail and fined Dh150,000, also lost their appeals.

The Pakistani pair were also found guilty of offering bribes.

On February 20 last year and before then, the Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department worker, 27, was paid to change the status of 641 people.

The Emirati was convicted of accepting bribes, forging official documents and using forged documents by saving them on the department’s system.

The three were caught after the department received a tip-off.

An internal investigation found the Emirati had been amending the departure data using the passwords of two other workers without their knowledge.

An Emirati inspector doublechecked all the names of people the accused had entered into the system and found that all had entered the country on visit visas but did not leave.

“I sent a list of the names to the airlines and they confirmed that they did not leave the country,” the inspector said.

The worker was arrested and told to lure his accomplices into a trap.

“One of the Pakistani men had Dh19,500 and 18 passports on him at the time of arrest, while the Emirati had Dh30,000 in his car when we arrested him,” the inspector said.

When questioned by prosecutors, the officer admitted that he would receive a list of people by text message whose exit status he should falsify.

Later, the Emirati would meet one of his accomplices to receive his payment.