Business Law - Investigations on Bribery, Forgery, False Pretenses - Case Study Example

Business Law

Part One

• Bribery

In the UAE, authorities regard an action as bribery when an individual offers or receives money of a certain amount or a package with the aim of obtaining a favor from an official who holds a legal or a public duty. The action is punishable. The laws that govern the action are classified into two. Foremost, the domestic bribery laws encompass the involvement of domestic public officials into the act of bribery. Secondly, the foreign bribery laws encompass the involvement of foreign public officials in the act of bribery (Laubach & Shah, 2011).

According to the domestic bribery laws, bribery is an action that is punishable with regard to the article 234 to article 239 of the UAE Penal No. 3 in Federal Law of 1987, commonly referred to as Federal Penal Code. The law is applicable to the whole UAE. Article 234 states that the action of an officer assigned to offer a public service of soliciting or accepting either for himself or on behalf of another individual, any advantage, donation, promise among others with the aim of committing or omitting an act that violates the duties regarding to his function is an offence. Another article such as Article 237 regards the person who has mediated between two people involved in the action of bribery to have committed an offense. According to the constitution, public officers involve people who provide public authority, government departments, and ministries’ employees, armed forces’ members among others (Laubach & Shah, 2011).

One of the recent laws prohibiting bribery includes the Financial Fraud Law, which was established in 2009. The law applies to any person in Dubai who has obtained illegal money or public funds. The law aims at imposing tougher sentences on the criminals who have committed bribery that involves money alongside repaying the funds he had obtained. There are other laws related to the prohibition of bribery in the UAE. Some of them include the No. 11 of the Federal Decree-Law of 2008 and the No. 39 of the Dubai Law of 2009 that deals with the procedure followed to recover the public or private funds that an individual has obtained illegally through the action of bribery (Laubach & Shah, 2011).

The foreign bribery laws prohibit the involvement of a foreign public official in bribery. This includes officials of international organizations. Apparently, the UAE has not met the responsibility of criminalizing the action of bribery for the foreign officials. This means that the UAE authorities cannot apply the bribery laws on foreign officials (Laubach & Shah, 2011).

The penalties applied to the criminals who commit bribery are dependent on the specific law that is applied in handling the case. For example, when the Federal Penal Code is applied, an offense that is committed under the article 234 will yield an imprisonment period that does not exceed ten years. This may be different in the rest of the articles of the law. When the Financial Fraud Law is applied, then the penalty is dependent on the amount of money that was involved in the act of bribery. For example, if the money obtained illegally, which has to be settled ranges from five hundred thousand and one million dirhams, the corresponding imprisonment period will be five years. The imprisonment period will increase as the amount of money involved increases (Laubach & Shah, 2011).

• Forgery

The UAE law considers an individual to have committed the crime of forgery if he falsifies or copies; imitates or alters a signature, bank note or a written document with the intention of defrauding. In the recent past, due the advancement in technology, the crime today includes the forgery of IP addresses (Gmtech, 2016). According to the Federal Penal Code, in Article 216, elements that render an as forgery if it satisfies seven conditions. First, if a genuine instrument is altered by removing, changing or adding the written part, numbers, pictures or marks. Secondly, if a sign is falsified, a forged seal is placed or a genuine signature, imprint or seal is altered. Thirdly, by obtaining the signature, imprint, or seal of another person without the permission of that individual. Fourth, falsifying or imitating an instrument and attributing the instrument to another person. Fifth, filling a bank paper that is imprinted, sealed, or signed without having to obtain the approval of the specific person who sealed, imprinted, or signed the document. Sixth, assuming another person’s name or substituting that name in a document that is prepared with the aim of proving the other person’s identity. Seventh entails altering a writing of a material with the intention of committing fraud. It also involves being deceitful in a manner that prevents the achievement of the instruments’ intention. Forgery is of two types. Material forgery entails committing a material change to the document by deleting, adding, or modifying the original document. Additionally, material forgery can be committed by crafting a new document. Secondly, moral forgery is committed by changing the meaning, circumstance and content during the editing. It is easier to prove a material forgery than it is to prove a moral forgery (Lexology, 2016). A person who is found guilty of the crime is not only the person whose signature, seal, or fingerprint appears on the forged documents. A person who aids in falsifying the document will also be regarded to have committed the crime and thus will face punishment just like the person who possesses the forged documents.

In the Law of Evidence, particularly article 11 and 23, a person has the right to challenge his involvement in forgery. The party that relies on the document is the one that should be involved in proving the authenticity of the documents. According to this law, a person can hold onto his forged documents including the writing, signature, seal, or the fingerprint until the other party, which the document prevents, proves its authenticity (Lexology, 2016).

UAE takes forgery as a serious criminal offense. The punishment for this criminal offense includes serving a jail term and deportation for foreigners. Based on a scenario in which a foreigner was arrested with the possession of forged documents, the authenticity of the document has to be proven before judgment is made. This may involve the forensic laboratory having to check the documents to ascertain the forgery. According to the UAE's Federal Law, forgery may attract a punishment of a jail term of not more than fifteen years. However, for foreigners, the Punitive Federal Law allows them to serve a shorter period in jail and then they are deported (Jandaly, 2010).

• False Pretenses

The UAE regards an individual to have committed the crime of false pretense is he or she makes a false statement or an intentional misrepresentation of a current or past fact with the aim of obtaining money or property. This crime can be committed orally, through writings or implied statements. The UAE regards this crime as a fraud. According to the article No. 399 of the Federal Law of 1987, a person will be punished either by being confined or a fine being imposed on him if that person uses a fraudulent practice by assuming a quality or name or intentionally misrepresents himself with the aim of deceiving his victim who will in turn give him what he needs. The UAE considers this crime as being serious especially if it is committed against properties owned by the government or other objects that are valuable. This could lead to serious punishments, for instance, imprisonment. A person who has been sentenced for this crime and is involved in this crime again is usually put under surveillance and investigation for about two years or sometimes to a period which is equivalent to the imprisonment period he had previously served. A person who has committed this crime can serve a jail term that does not exceed two years. False pretense is different from lying and theft. Unlike theft and lying, two elements must be present for an action to be regarded a false pretense. First, there must be material. This could be the means in which the false character or identity is achieved. Secondly, there must be deceptive methods. These include the use of false documents, appearance or circumstances, verbal or written expressions among others for the purpose of deceiving the victim such that the victim will be induced into relying on the deceptive methods. If a person committing the crime uses another third party for the accomplishment of his aim, then, that person too will be regarded a criminal (Elhais, 2015).

According to the UAE law, any action that is taken, irrespective of its purpose, if it is done with the aim of taking the money of another person is fraud and hence is false pretense. The party that deceives the other is the one that is supposed to act in a way that will interfere with the other party having to support him. In proving whether a crime is false pretense, there have to be three conditions. First, the characteristics or the name in which a person assumes leads to the victims giving him property. Secondly, the deceiver must use a positive action in convincing the victim. This means that an action cannot be regarded as being false pretense if the deceiver was silent. Thirdly, the actions or characteristics that the deceiver uses should not be easy to suspect that they are a wrongful act. Any action that fulfills these three conditions is regarded as false pretense according to Article 399. When any of the conditions is fulfilled in writing, then, the suspect will face comparatively more punishment since this will be an additional offense in which Article 88 will apply (Elhais, 2015).

An individual who commits this crime can be punished through fines or imprisonment. The imprisonment period ranges between one month and three years. If the crime is serious, for example, if a government property is involved, then, the imprisonment period can be up to six years. Proven false pretense will attract an imprisonment period of two years. In case the two parties are willing to have the matter settled by themselves, the law would not discharge the case but might lead to the reduction of the imprisonment period or the fine (Elhais, 2015).

Part 2

According to the No.35 of the Federal Law of 1992, the procedures in which criminal cases are supposed to follow are specified. This ranges from criminal investigation to judgment and enforcement. The law of the UAE tries to balance between respecting an individual’s personal freedom whereas ensuring that any person who is found guilty will not go unpunished. The first step in any criminal case is pursuing the criminal action. A criminal case can be filed and pursued by the public prosecution. An officer who is involved in the crime and the complainant are presented before the judiciary or the public prosecution. This is followed by the investigation of the crime. A judicial officer should go to the scene of the crime and prevent the people present from leaving. He should draft a report based on observation and witnesses. If evidence is adequate, the accused is arrested. In the case of the absentia of the accused, the court issues the warrant for arrest. Immediately he is arrested, the judicial officer ought to hear a statement from him. Depending on the crime, the accused can be searched.

The search can include his residence, body, belongings among others. An investigation is then initiated by the public prosecution. The investigation is done in Arabic. An interpreter can be involved in case one of the people involved does not understand Arabic. Criminals’ cases will be under the Federal Supreme Court’s jurisdiction. Felonies will be under Court of First Instance’s jurisdiction. The parties in a case are then notified of their appearance in court one day before for the minor crimes, three days for the misdemeanors and ten days for the felonies. The accused is then expected to attend a court session in person for the felonies and misdemeanors that carry a punishment instead of a fine. In other crimes, an attorney can be delegated by the accused to represent him. A hearing is done publically, and then trials begin. Judgment on the case is then issued by the judge. In case either of the parties is not satisfied with the judgment, an appeal can be made. The appeal should be made within fifteen days following the judgment. Additionally, if one wants the judgment to be reviewed, then, he should make a request. The judge then executes and enforces the verdict (Abu Dhabi, 2014).