DUBAI // A passport control officer accepted almost Dh3 million in bribes from thousands of people in return for falsifying their exit reports, a court heard today.
Emirati A?A, 30, took bribes from 5,291 people totalling Dh2,645,500 between August 2007 and August last year, Dubai Criminal Court was told.
In return, he forged data to say they had left the country when they were still living in the UAE.
The accused, who worked for the Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department (DNRD) at Dubai International Airport, denied charges of accepting bribes, forging official documents and saving them in the DNRD's system.
M?O,a 45-year-old Emirati employee of the DNRD, said he acted on a tip-off about the accused by making a list of the names he had logged as departures.
"I checked with the airlines and discovered the people in the list had not left the country," he told prosecutors.
The accused was questioned and confessed. He said he collected the names of people whose data he should forge via text message from a man in Pakistan. Another Pakistani would meet him in Al Quoz to pay him.
The next hearing will be held on March 6.
salamir@thenational.ae
