An assistant auditor was offered Dh150,000 as a bribe to prepare a falsified report to be submitted to court in relation to an ongoing real estate case, Dubai Criminal Court was told.
Prosecutors said the bribe was offered by two men, an Egyptian legal accountant, 52, and a Sudanese section head at a real state company, who acted upon directions from the Indian owner of the company.
The pair, as well as the company's owner, who remains at large, are charged with offering a bribe in October 2017.
An assistant auditor, 35, from Egypt, said that along with an Emirati auditor registered with Dubai courts, he was asked to prepare a report for an ongoing case.
“I received a call from a legal accountant and he told me he had important documents required for the report, and that he must deliver them to me,” said the assistant auditor.
He told the caller the documents must be submitted through the auditing office, but the man insisted to meet to discuss an important issue.
“I informed my boss that the defendant called me several times and had been asking to meet, so he advised me to go for the meeting and find out what the accountant wanted,” said the assistant auditor.
When the two met, the legal accountant allegedly offered a bribe in return for a report that would work in his employer's favour.
“He told me that he would ask the company’s owner for Dh300,000 and that he would take half and give me the other half,” added the claimant, who reported the incident to Al Muraqqabat police station.
The man then went to collect the first installment of Dh50,000, escorted by undercover police and provided with a wire.
Police arrested the legal accountant.
During questioning, the accountant said the Sudanese defendant was the one who prepared the bribe money and both of them acted according to the company owner’s orders.
In court, both men denied offering a bribe.
The next hearing will be on March 20.