Jail term reduction for aviation boss who offered bribe to speed up trade licence

Uzbek manager offered aviation inspector $50,000 to expedite his paperwork but he got his sentence reduced from one year to three months on appeal.

DUBAI // An aviation company manager awaiting a licence to begin operating has had his one-year jail term for offering a bribe to expedite his paperwork reduced.

Dubai Criminal Court convicted the 57-year-old man, who denied the charges, and ordered his deportation after the jail term, but he appealed the court’s verdict.

Uzbek A Y offered US$50,000 (Dh183,658) to Emirati aviation operations inspector E A, 40.

“I am responsible for inspecting and controlling all work related to licensing aviation companies,” said the inspector.

He said the defendant had called him in September last year and introduced himself as the manger of the aviation company identified in court records as B S.

“He told me his company was paying a lot of money for pilots, employees and other costs while the licence was not issued yet and this was making the investors pressure him to end this problem.”

He said the defendant told him he had $50,000 he could give him if he helped expedite the process. The defendant was arrested after placing the money in a bag and handing it to the inspector, who had told his bosses of the incident.

The Court of Appeal reduced the manager’s sentence to three months and overturned his deportation order.