Kitchen staff at Dubai’s luxury Burj al-Arab hotel have been
accused of taking nearly $250,000 in bribes in exchange for buying substandard
food from suppliers at marked-up prices.
The head chef and butcher in the Jumeirah Group-run property
had also allowed frozen fish to be passed off as fresh produce to guests, the Dubai
Criminal Court of First Instance was told.
FRD, a 56-year-old head chef, received monthly envelopes of
cash totalling AED837,246 ($227,933) from four wholesalers between April 2008
and March 2010, the court heard.
His co-accused, a 38-year-old butcher at the hotel,
reportedly received AED40,000 ($10,889) in return for accepting frozen fish and
passing it off as fresh food.
In a statement to the court, FRD said he had been approached
by two staff members following his promotion to head chef in 2008. He was told
he would receive a monthly fee if he only accepted vegetables, meat and seafood
from four specific suppliers.
The bribery allegations came to light when an investigation
of the hotel’s accounts raised suspicions as to why only four wholesalers were
being used despite their high prices.
When questioned, FRD and AM confessed to receiving the
monthly bribes and also to deleting rival firms’ details from the hotel’s food
and beverage database.
In a statement, Jumeirah Group said its employees are
trained to follow international food safety standards and to comply with
in-house rules. The hotel bans the selling of frozen food to guests.
The case has been adjourned until February 12. As the hotel
is owned by the Dubai government, the pair will be tried as public officials,
meaning they could face tougher sentencing if convicted.
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