Fewa office boy bribed to alter supplier's bids

An Indian office boy at the Federal Electricity and Water Authority (Fewa) allegedly took Dh10,000 as bribe from a supplier to help him to offer the lowest bid price, the Dubai Criminal Court heard.

According to its purchase procedures, Fewa asks suppliers who are registered with it for things needed and suppliers would send in their bids in closed envelopes.

After the deadline, a special committee assigned to study bids meets and the closed envelopes are opened. After opening the bids, the committee used to give the bids to AB, 26, office boy, to hand them over to the Finance Department for registration and endorsement.

Officials at Fewa became suspicious when the same company won the bid several times. The change in bid prices also raised doubts.

“The committee decided to take photo copies of all bids after opening the envelopes before handing them over to the office boy. The committee found out that the bid price offered by AM’s company was changed after the office boy was handed over the opened envelopes.

Fewa reported the matter to the police.

On questioning, the office admitted that he had done this in seven cases and that each time the bidder AM used to pay him about Dh2,000, testified lieutenant Mohammed Rashid.

The office boy admitted that he used to call AM, 60, Indian businessman, to tell him about the offer prices of other bidders.  AM would then ask the office boy to delete his previous prices and  write lower prices to make the bid the lowest. The office boy admitted to taking a total of Dh10,000 from AM.

The office boy is accused of asking and accepting Dh10,000 as bribe in addition to forgery and using forged documents.

The court will reconvene on June 5.