Numbers racket lands two in Abu Dhabi court

Abu Dhabi // An Etisalat employee conspired with a Yemeni man to obtain special telephone numbers, including some belonging to UAE ruling family members, and sell them to customers, a court heard yesterday.

IR, a Palestinian who worked for Etisalat, was charged with corruption and accepting a bribe. MS, a Yemeni, was charged with being an accomplice and offering a bribe.

Both pleaded not guilty to the charges before the Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance.

Prosecutors accused IR, who worked at a booth in Marina Mall, of accepting Dh35,000 in bribes from MS in exchange for providing "unique" telephone numbers.

Customers in the UAE are often willing to pay large sums for double or repetitive telephone numbers - similar, for example, to limited number licence plates that enjoy high demand.

Defence lawyers said the case was not serious because Etisalat would have discovered any changes to the status of the special numbers as soon as the original clients notified them.

The case was referred to the Public Prosecution last month.

IR illicitly accessed the section of Etisalat's system that deals with such "special" telephone numbers, the court heard. Some of the numbers that were allegedly offered to MS belonged to Emiratis from ruling families in Ajman and Ras al Khaimah.

MS' lawyer, Faiza Moussa, yesterday said he had acquired the numbers legally and did not intend to sell them.

"He is a Yemeni national and he had Emirati cousins, so he wanted to brag about his ability to obtain special numbers, unlike his cousins who have UAE citizenship," said Mrs Moussa.

"He gave the numbers to his relatives for free because he told them he obtained the numbers for free," the lawyer said.

Mrs Moussa said Etisalat's transcriptions of all the calls between the two showed no evidence that her client was an accomplice. She said IR told her client he had special numbers, which her client purchased.

IR said he initially provided MS with special numbers, but later reported him when he realised it was a serious offence.

The judges will issue a verdict on Sunday.

hhassan@thenational.ae