Former minister pays BD72,000 to avoid jail

Manama : A former minister yesterday agreed to pay BD72,000 to avoid being imprisoned for denying his son’s widow and child from receiving their  rightful inheritance.

The man was arrested on Sunday as per an order issued on the same day by the Fifth Executive Court. He spent the night in detention and stood before the judges yesterday.

Court files showed that the former minister’s son passed away, few hours before the deceased’s wife gave birth to a baby girl.

The grandfather had kicked the mother out of his son’s apartment before she gave birth. He also refused to allow her to take the deceased’s car.

The widowed woman then filed a case against her father in law to receive the rightful inheritance of her and her daughter, as per the laws of the Kingdom.

The judges ordered to sell the belongings of the deceased husband in a public auction and hand the money to the woman.

In the auction, the former minister bought around BD145,000 worth of the belongings, but didn’t pay the full amount to the person entitled, the widowed wife.

His record showed that he was involved in several other cases that included writing cheques of more than BD320, 000 with no balance to a GCC investor, buying a BD4, 000 land for his wife and not paying for it, and other labour related cases.