Dubai:
A Dubai court has jailed three Indian barbers for a year each for offering 1500 dirhams (around $400) to a Dubai Municipality health inspector to get a health card illegally.
The Indian trio, identified by their initials as IM, AK and MS, were said to have offered a municipality inspector the bribe in June to get a health card for AK, who was suffering from hepatitis B, the Gulf News reported.
The Dubai Court of First Instance on Sunday found them guilty of offering a bribe despite the defendants pleading not guilty.
The prosecutors told the court that IM tried to convince the inspector at Dubai Municipality's clinic that AK was healthy.
The court also fined the defendants 600 dirhams each.
The three Indians were charged after they were caught in a sting operation while giving the bribe.
"IM asked me over the phone if I could help him issue a health card to a person who suffers from hepatitis B. I refused and told him that it was unlawful to process a health card for a barber who suffers from a contagious disease," the health inspector said.
"The next day he came to my workplace and asked why I was hesitant to help him. The supervisor said earlier health cards had been issued to individuals with contagious diseases," he said.
"I promised I would reconsider and then I told my boss. She suggested that I pretend to have agreed in order to expose the staff members who processed the health cards to unhealthy individuals," the inspector added.
The Indian nationals will be deported after they complete their sentences.