Driving test bribe men deported

DUBAI // Six men appealing against their convictions for bribing a driving test examiner have been deported, the Court of Appeals heard today.

The six were among a group of 10 found guilty in December last year of paying the RTA examiner II to help them obtain licences without passing the driving test.

II was jailed for six months and fined Dh50,000 on December 20 last year, after prosecutors proved the 65-year-old Emirati had collected more than that amount in bribes from 30 people.

The 10 men, eight Indians and two Pakistanis, chose to appeal their six-month jail sentences for their part in the crime, but Presiding Judge Mahmood Al Shinawi heard yesterday that six of them had been deported before they were able to do so. The judge ordered prosecutors to explain the deportation.

Lawyers defending the remaining four - as well as the driving examiner - said there was no evidence against their clients.

Yousif Hammad, who is leading the defence, said the convictions were based on the testimony of one person, the Pakistani clerk MR, whose statements had been contradictory.

MR, who originally reported the men, testified that his younger brother had failed his driving test twice. He said that after this an examiner had put him in contact with a man who could help his brother pass.

"We contacted a person who asked us to pay Dh6,000, confirming that my brother would pass if he sits for the exam on a Saturday. I went back to the examiner and told him what happened. Then he asked me to inform the police," MR said.

Mr Hammad told the court that MR had failed to identify the examiner.

Mr Hammad also argued the men had deserved to pass their tests. "Your honour, prosecutors claimed that II was paid to forge the documents...however all the test forms show that the defendants have not committed more than five minor mistakes," he said.

"If they have only committed five mistakes your honour, as is shown in the documents before you, then they have indeed passed and II was obliged to pass them," he said.

The court will issue a verdict on February 29.

amustafa@thenational.ae