DUBAI, Jan 3 (UNI):: An Indian has been acquitted by a Dubai court of charges of offering 55,000 Dirham as bribe to a government official.
Manohar Ratu, who was working with a petroleum company in Qatar, came to UAE on a Visit Visa to start a company dealing with import of food from India.
He then approached the Dubai Municipality to get a clearance certificate for food import, where the prosecution said he tried to bribe a public official to speed up the processing of licence.
Ratu told the court that an employee had asked him to pay him Dirham 55,000 so that he could get the certificate immediately, but he refused to do so initially.
When the demand was made for Dirham 3,000, he withdrew money from an ATM machine to pay, but was caught by the CID.
The court of First Instance acquitted Ratu in September saying that there was no evidence of bribery.
Upholding the lower court's verdict, the appellate court also acquitted him for lack of evidence.