Talking about “conflict of interest” remains extremely important, especially when it comes to job position, whether in the public or private sector. We discussed only one angle of this legal principle in a previous article, which dealt with the inadmissibility of the consulting engineer assuming the role of the contractor or vice versa, in the context of The guarantees set by the UAE legislator to protect the work environment from exploitation or the pursuit of personal interests.
In continuation of the foregoing, we find that the legislator was keen in a meticulous detail to immunize public jobs from such abuses by closing any legal loophole in front of the employee’s private interests clashing with his job in the public sector.
(Article 71 of Federal Decree-Law No. 11 of 2008 regarding human resources) stressed the need to avoid any action that might raise the suspicion of a conflict of interest during the employee’s performance of his job duties.
The legislator was keen to address in detail in this article to indicative cases of intertwining interests, including participation in any process or official decision that directly or indirectly affects the success of a contractor or supplier who is a relative of the employee up to the fourth degree, or participation in any decision that may lead to granting Any benefits, lands, or licenses for any of his relatives up to the fourth degree, or participation in any process or official decision that directly or indirectly affects the success of a supplier, contractor or project in which the employee is a partner in any way, and leads to him obtaining a percentage, share, or Direct or indirect material benefit, exploitation of the job position, leaking any information obtained by virtue of his work to achieve certain goals, or obtaining a service or special treatment from any party.
On the other hand, and in light of his belief in the importance of investing in the energies of society and its human resources, the legislator did not make the public job a constraint for the employee. The public shareholding, according to certain requirements, including that the work is outside the official working hours, that the private work does not negatively affect the job duties or the status of the federal entity, and that his private work is not in any way related to his official job and does not affect or be affected by it in accordance with Article 72 of the decree Federal Law No. 11 of 2008 regarding human resources.
This flexibility, restricted by objective conditions, aims at two basic things, the first is not to resort to fictitious contracts to practice various economic activities, and the second is to fortify the public job and protect it from exploitation to achieve private interests, and thus the legislator protects the public right and the interests of individuals with a wonderful legal text.
Arbitrator and legal advisor
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