ABU DHABI // A legal counsellor at a government company offered a Dh900,000 bribe to a colleague to award a contract to his business company, a court heard yesterday.
NA, from Egypt, is accused of conspiring with his business partner to offer the bribe.
Prosecutors told the Criminal Court that the pair also asked the manager to increase the value of the contract from Dh10 million to Dh15m in exchange, offering him half the proceeds.
But the manager informed police, who set up a sting operation. The legal counsellor was arrested shortly after handing the manager a down payment of Dh400,000.
Police said the counsellor confessed, but in court he said they had tricked him and pressured him into signing the confession.
"You are a legal counsellor and for sure you know the consequences of signing a confession," said Chief Justice Sayed Abdul Baseer.
The counsellor also claimed the cash he was caught with was intended as a loan that the manager had requested from him.
Amer Al Marzouqi, the counsellor's lawyer, presented a report from Rashid Hospital showing his client has a brain clot/
But fund prosecutor Hassan Al Hammadi claimed the counsellor was merely stalling.
The case was adjourned to September 16.
hdajani@thenational.ae
