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Building safety certificate for Dh10,000!

A corporal with the General Directorate of Civil Defence allegedly solicited a bribe of Dh10,000 from an engineer for issuing the latter a building safety certificate, a court heard on Sunday.

The Emirati corporal, aged 25, also allegedly forged a building completion certificate which he claimed to have been issued by the Prevention and Safety Department at the General Directorate of Civil Defence. He allegedly forged the signature of an officer at the Safety Department on the certificate.

He was charged with bribery and forgery in the Court of First Instance.

He gave it to the engineer of the contracting company claiming it was authentic.

An Emirati lieutenant at the General Directorate of Civil Defence said that the defendant’s duties included inspection of buildings and noting down any safety flaws. He would notify the contractor of such flaws so that they were rectified. He was not supposed to issue a certificate if the safety conditions were not met.

In this case, the defendant issued a completion certificate in the name of the Safety Section in the Civil Defence for a building undertaken by a contracting company without inspecting it.

The Syrian engineer of the contracting company told the prosecutor that the defendant issued him a safety certificate for a coffee shop in December last year. Shortly later, the defendant called him and said he was willing to issue him a completion safety certificate for a building completed by his contracting company for Dh10,000.

The defendant did not check the building for any safety flaws and asked only for the construction permit.

The engineer informed the contractor. They coordinated with the officers of the Criminal Investigation Department and the defendant was arrested in January after he collected the money and submitted the forged certificate.

mary@khaleejtimes.com