Man who bribed Dubai airport officer to see dying son jailed

Dubai - The officer has been sentenced to one year in jail and ordered to pay a Dh120,000 fine on the charge of accepting a bribe.

A Palestinian businessman accused of offering Dh120,000 worth of bribes to an officer at the Dubai International Airport to help him travel despite having a criminal case of a dud cheque, has been sentenced to three months in jail.
According to court documents, the father paid the Emirati officer the amount in two installments between September and December last year in return for him to be able to travel to Amman and Beirut. The officer has been sentenced to one year in jail and ordered to pay a Dh120,000 fine on the charge of accepting a bribe in his capacity as a public officer.
The father's defense lawyer earlier requested the Court of First Instance to clear his client of a bribery charge on the grounds that his act was not done out of a criminal intention.
Advocate Nasser Hachem pleaded the judges to tackle his client's case with humanitarian considerations. He argued that his client wanted to travel to be by the side of his nine-year-old dying son. "Given the fact there is a criminal case against him he was not able to travel. So he could not find any other way but to seek the help of the officer in order to see and help in the treatment his son suffering from leukemia".
The lawyer requested the court to clear his client whom he described as a law -abiding resident and one who never broke the law.
mary@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai