Immigration cops jailed for Dhs767000 bribery

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

An immigration cop and a compatriot colleague implicated in a Dhs767,000 bribery deal have failed to convince the Cassation Court to overturn their punishments.

The Arab defendant – a sergeant, 27 – abused his duties at the detention and deportation section of an immigration office. He received bribes from an ex-fugitive Arab accomplice to counterfeit immigration documents.

He committed forgery in the office’s e-system and changed statuses of 571 immigration law violators to make it seem they had departed the country while in reality they were still inside the country, records showed.

He pocketed Dhs1,000 to Dhs3,000 for each transaction. Sometimes he used the username and password of his compatriot colleague – a warrant officer, 32. The latter was convicted of complicity in bribery and e-forgery.

The Criminal Court sentenced each cop to three years behind bars and a Dhs150,000 fine. The accomplice was on the run by then. The court jailed him in absentia for three years and a Dhs150,000 fine plus deportation.

The Appeals Court upheld the punishments. It ordered each one of the cops to additionally pay a sum worth the total amount of the bribes (Dhs767,000). The Cassation Court also upheld both cops’ punishments.

On the record, an Emirati officer said a source alerted them that the defendant was processing illicit transactions for the accomplice. These included temporary closures of files of people who came on visit visas.

The source further revealed that the defendant was also issuing departure permits for people who had overstayed their visas and failed to pay the due fines. On being confronted, he confessed to the crimes.

He explained that the accomplice befriended him at a detention facility where he had been taken over cheque cases. The accomplice later introduced the deal to him and offered to give cash rewards on each application.

He said the accomplice gave him Dhs180,000 in total.  He and the accomplice had a secret code to evade being detected. He would send the word ‘bull’ to show that he issued departure permits for given applicants.

He would send the word ‘sheep’ to indicate that he successfully issued temporary closure of files of given applicants. All this was meant to evade incriminating each other. He later used his colleague’s eligibilities.