A criminal court has sentenced a Syrian expatriate woman to a year in jail for offering a bribe to a Civil Defence official to issue a safety certificate for an education centre.
The court said in its verdict that the woman be deported after she has served the prison sentence.
The woman managed an office that provided different kinds of services to clients, including acquiring licences and certification from government departments.
Her office also conducted feasibility studies on various projects for clients, local Arabic daily Al Raya reported yesterday.
One of her clients wanted to set up a centre to teach the Arabic language, but, apparently, the building that was to house this centre was not fit for the purpose.
The woman got in touch with a Civil Defence official who was to issue a safety certificate for the said centre and offered him a bribe of QR10,000 for the purpose.
Obviously, the bribe was offered because the official wouldn’t inspect the building where the centre was to be established.
The Civil Defense official informed his superiors about the woman and how she was trying to bribe him to issue a safety certificate.
His superiors, in turn, informed law-enforcement agencies, and with their help a trap was laid to catch the woman red-handed.
It was decided between the official and the woman that they would meet near a petrol filling and service station at 9.30am on the appointed day.
When they reached the said spot, the official asked the woman to come inside his car and give him the cash. The convict obliged, and as she was handing over the cash to the official, sleuths from the law-enforcement agencies, who were lying in wait, caught her red-handed.
After questioning, charges were filed by the public prosecution against the woman and the matter was sent to court.
Source: thepeninsulaqatar
