UAE court acquits 2 Pinays, sends 2 health clerks to jail

A United Arab Emirates court has handed down jail terms for two clerks at the Dubai Health Authority who altered a Filipina's fitness test results to make it appear she is fit for work, a UAE news site reported late Monday.

 

The Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced the two to six months in jail for changing the test result from medically unfit to medically fit supposedly for a Dh3,000 bribe last August, Gulf News reported.

 

Both clerks, aged 27 and 25, were found guilty of abusing their offices at the DHA and for forging the 22-year-old Filipina's test results, but were sentenced in absentia.

 

On the other hand, the court acquitted the Filipina and her 49-year-old mother for lack of corroborative evidence.

 

Prosecutors accused one of the two clerks of accessing the DHA's e-system despite lacking the needed permissions.

 

The other clerk, the Filipina and her 49-year-old mother were accused of aiding and abetting the suspect.

 

Both Filipinas entered a not-guilty plea and claimed they were not involved in the forgery and had not paid any bribe.

 

Also, they insisted they were told by the accused that the Dh3,000 involved "fees."

 

Presiding judge Ezzat Abdul Lat acquitted the two Filipinas but ordered the two clerks deported after they serve their sentences.

Forgery found by accident

 

An Indian nurse at a DHA medical center testified the forgery was discovered coincidentally.

 

“My friend who works in a typing center asked me over the phone if it was possible to change the test results of a client from medically unfit to medically fit against a certain fee... When he told me that he overheard his colleagues discussing the issue, I asked him to forward me a copy of that test result to check it out. When I checked the results of the pertinent applicant (the Filipina), the DHA’s e-system showed that her fitness test results showed that she was medically unfit," the nurse said.

 

"I informed my boss, who directly instructed me to change the result to unfit and notify the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners’ Affairs so that (the Filipina) does not have a visa processed based on forged documents,” the nurse added.

 

Records also showed the DHA notified the police about the manipulation. Initial investigation showed the two clerks were involved in the forgery.

 

Dh3,000 fitness test

 

The Filipina's mother said her daughter suffered tuberculosis during childhood.

 

She said they treated her for a long time, and in July 2014, a clinic in Karama notified them she had been cured.

 

"We applied for her to do the fitness test to process a residency; when she and I went to pick the results from the DHA fitness centre, (the clerk) handed us the result and said that she was not fit. We cried and asked him what could be done, so he forwarded us to the supervisor who said the results were confirmed," she said.

 

"After we left the center, I received an SMS from a strange number. It turned out to be (the clerk) He provided me with (the co-accused's) number and I communicated with them, they rectified the test results and claimed to me that there was a mistake, I paid them Dh3,000. Then police called me,” she added.  — Joel Locsin/ELR, GMA News