Abu Dhabi Court of Cassation has upheld the Court of Appeal's ruling to punish a government employee, fining him 2,000 dirhams, and deporting him from the state for accepting a financial bribe in exchange for revoking a travel ban.
The details of the case are due to the fact that the accused, as a public official, accepted an undeserved gift in exchange for an act of his job, namely, the issuance of travel ban orders for a person.
The Court of First Instance had sentenced the defendant to three years in prison and fined him 2000 dirhams, and deported him from the state, and obliged him to draw a criminal case, and the convicted appealed the verdict, and the Abu Dhabi Court of Appeal ruled in his presence to accept the appeal in some form, Otherwise, the defendant obliged the fees, and when the judiciary did not accept the convict, he was challenged by cassation. The Public Prosecution submitted a memorandum of opinion at the end of which it rejected the appeal.
In his appeal, the defendant mourned that the verdict was marred by inadequate reasoning and error in the application of the law, and breach of the right of defense, as the evidence relied on by the verdict is not sufficient to support the conviction, as the appellant's defense ignored the absence of the elements of the crime, and the absence of evidence of the crime.
The defendant's defense pointed out that the contested verdict relied on his judgment to convict the defendant for the statements of the victim, who tried to fabricate the crime even though his statements are not valid according to Sharia, pointing out that the video footage of the incident did not indicate the agreement of the accused with the complainant to end Treating him in violation of his job duties.
In its ruling, the court indicated that the appellant has the power to issue orders and cancel travel ban orders, and used to request financial amounts from those dealing with his employer as a bribery or acceptance in exchange for issuing or canceling travel ban orders or after they have already been issued. He also asked the victim to pay a bribe in return for the cancellation of the travel ban and accepted the amount of 2000 dirhams, which prompted the latter to go to the police and inform the investigation department.
The verdict indicated that the investigation confirmed the authenticity of the communication, and the Public Prosecution was authorized to seize the incident, where the accused was seized upon delivery of the complainant to cancel the travel ban, and received the amount of it. Criticism of the accusation, and the proven report of investigations and photocopy of the figures of the amount of fixed bribery, in addition to the photocopy of a conversation between the accused and the amount through the program «Whatsapp» social networking.