More than 3,000 illegal work permits have been issued by the internal staff of UAE's Ministry of Labour, a report said.

The ministry may press charges against those involved, the Gulf News report said quoting a ministry statement.

The work permits were issued by staff in the ministry's Al Ain office.

'As you can imagine, this was a disastrous shock for us. We were completely baffled with this discovery. However, one of our pillars in the ministry is transparency and therefore we are bringing this issue to public,' said the ministry's acting undersecretary Humaid Bin Deemas at a press conference.

The ministry has set up a committee to further investigate the matter. It has learnt that some of the employees can be criminally charged under the law, the ministry said.