EMPLOYER SLAPPED WITH RECORD 6.4-MLN DIRHAM FINE

By Muin Abdul Majid

DUBAI, Oct 17 (Bernama) -- The owner of an electro-mechanical contracting
firm here paid a heavy price for employing 94 illegal workers.

The Dubai Immigration Court fined the Indian national 6.4 million dirham
(RM6.13 million or US$1.7 million) and sentenced him to two months in jail for
the offence, The
National reported.

The illegal workers -- 70 Bangladeshis, 23 Indians and one Sri Lankan --
received fines or jail terms or both, and will be deported after serving their
jail sentences.

The newspaper said the employer was fined 1.4 million dirham (RM1.34
million or US$382,229) for employing 29 people who had either absconded from
their sponsors or who were in the country on visit visas, and a further five
million dirham (RM4.79 million or US$1.36 million) for employing 65 people who
had entered the country illegally.

"The defendant in this case flaunted the law with reckless abandon," was
how the chief immigration prosecutor, Ali bin Khatam, described the case.
-- BERNAMA