RTA inspector acquitted on charge of asking for a Dh10,000 bribe

Prosecutors had said the Emirati had asked for money because the cafe owner was using parking spaces exclusively for customers but did not have a licence to do so.

DUBAI // A Roads and Transport Authority inspector accused of asking for a Dh10,000 bribe from a cafeteria owner for using parking spaces for his business without obtaining a licence has been found not guilty.

Prosecutors told Dubai Criminal Court that the 30-year-old Emirati inspector had asked an Emirati policeman he knew to mediate between him and the Indian cafeteria owner.

“He told me that he would issue fines against the cafeteria for using four car park spots exclusively for customers without obtaining a licence and told me to inform the owner that if he paid Dh10,000, he would cancel the fines,” the 38-year-old policeman said.

Prosecutors also said that the policeman asked the owner of the cafeteria to give him Dh500 in return for his mediation efforts.

The inspector was charged with seeking a bribe while the policeman was charged with mediating between the inspector and the cafeteria owner.

The policeman denied the charge in court but the inspector was not present.

The incident is said to have happened between August and September last year and police came to know of it after the owner of the cafeteria filed a report at Riffa police station.

“When we were asked to come for police questioning, the inspector asked me to take all the blame and not involve him and that he would hire the best lawyers to get me out of it. But I knew that once I did that, he would forget all about me,” the policeman said.

Both defendants were acquitted of all charges, although no reason for the ruling was made available.