Year in jail for man who tried to bribe Dubai nightclub inspector

DUBAI// A man who offered a bribe to an inspector so he would ignore rules violations at nightclubs owned by a friend was sentenced to a year in jail.

Between December 2013 and February this year, Syrian ZA tried to convince an Emirati inspector from Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing to accept up to Dh15,000.

The inspector, BA, 28, told Dubai Criminal Court: “In November last year he followed me when I left a club and asked to meet me in Ajman or Sharjah and told me that I will benefit meeting him.”

BA informed his supervisor and was advised to play along. He met with the defendant in December and ZA gave him a list of nightclubs and said he would pay Dh10,000 if BA found one violation but did not report it and Dh15,000 if they were two.

“He also told me that I will keep receiving bribes for a year or two,” said BA. The defendant was arrested in a sting operation on February 11 when he met with the inspector and handed him a Dh15,000 bribe.

BA said he was responsible for ensuring nightclubs were adhering to regulations, as some venues would break the rules by allowing customers to dance while wearing Khaleeji traditional dress, or allow dancers to mingle with customers and open bottles of alcohol for them. Other violations included allowing a dancer to strip to her underwear. “The fine for any of these violations would be between Dh10,000 and Dh50,0000,” he said. He added that fines between Dh20,000 and Dh40,000 were given to one of the nightclubs, which were owned by the defendant’s friend.

Prosecutors said during interrogations the defendant confessed to offering the bribe, but denied the charge in court.

ZA has 15 days to appeal against the verdict.