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UAE - Corruption

Transparency International’s 2011 report ranks the UAE 28th globally at combating corruption, unchanged from 2010’s global ranking and second among Arab countries, after Qatar. There is no evidence that corruption of public officials is a systemic problem; however, during 2008-2010, UAE authorities investigated several high-profile embezzlement cases, including three cases involving two former ministers and the former governor of the DIFC. Several senior Emirati and foreign nationals were dismissed and detained. Numerous bribery cases at the junior level were also reported in 2010. Dubai Police referred 36 alleged bribery cases for prosecution in 2009. The law stipulates that a public servant convicted of embezzlement shall be subject to imprisonment for a minimum of five years if the crime is connected to counterfeiting.

Article 237 imposes a minimum term of one year for accepting a bribe, while anyone convicted of attempting to bribe a public servant may be imprisoned for up to five years. In August 2005, the UAE signed the UN Anticorruption Convention and ratified it in February 2006.

The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption, and the government generally implemented the law effectively. Government corruption reportedly occurred at the administrative level. According to some reports, individuals connected to the ruling families went unpunished for corruption due to the lack of an independent judiciary. Nepotism and corrupt financial and legal practices existed. There were no financial disclosure laws for public officials. The Ministries of Interior and Justice and the State Audit Institution were responsible for combating government corruption.

On January 31, local press reported the prosecution of the Abu Dhabi Electricity and Water Authority’s (ADWEA) Insurance Section head, along with four other officials, by the Abu Dhabi Criminal Court, for accepting bribes worth 297 million dirhams (approximately $82 million). On November 15, local press reported that the Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance sentenced the former ADWEA insurance head to three years’ imprisonment and reparations of the 297 million dirhams along with a fine of an additional 297 million dirhams (totaling approximately $164 million). The court sentenced three officials to six months’ imprisonment and one official to three months’ imprisonment. All four were ordered deported as they are noncitizens.