Dubai A salesman has been accused of offering Dh400 as a bribe to a traffic inspector after he was caught carpooling using his private car in August.
The 31-year-old Indian salesman, N.B., was said to have offered the Yemeni inspector at the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) a bribe in return of not fining him for carrying three passengers in his car.
The defendant entered a not guilty plea when he showed up before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Wednesday.
“No I did not offer him a bribe… I did give him money but as part of the fine for the traffic violation that I committed. It was not a bribe at all,” the suspect argued before presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi in courtroom three.
The inspector testified before prosecutors that he is commissioned to check on traffic violations committed by taxi and private car drivers.
“I spotted the defendant with three African passengers in his private car at Al Nahda Area around 7pm. I asked him to pull over… when I asked him about the three men, he claimed that they were his friends.
"However when I asked him about their names, he did not know them. I suspected that he must have been carpooling when I saw one of the men paying him money.
"Meanwhile the Africans told me that N.B. offered to drive them to Al Nahda for Dh20. The suspect begged me not to issue him a ticket claiming that he would lose his job… he offered to pay me money. Immediately I called up a police patrol that happened to be nearby,” claimed the inspector.
Records said the defendant was taken into custody.
A ruling will be heard on October 15.
