Asian worker gets jail for embezzlement

Manama : The Second Higher Criminal Court (appeals court) has upheld the three-months jail sentence awarded to an Asian national for embezzling BD2,000.

The 32-year-old Asian national was sentenced to final deportation after being found guilty of embezzling the amount from his workplace.

According to court files, the man received BD2,000 from a client and promised to handover a receipt on the next day before absconding. The company notified the police when the customer showed up on the next day and claimed the receipt.

When arrested by the police, the defendant denied the accusations and in a twist of events, he told the prosecutors that he had requested his employer to allow him an emergency leave, as his mother was allegedly sick, back home.

The defendant claimed that the employer agreed to grant him the emergency leave under the condition of bearing the expenses of his flight ticket and residency cancellation fees, around BD500.

“For over a month and a half, the company stalled processing my final settlement and indemnity. They also asked me to evict the company’s accommodation and I had to stay with a friend. I have been only communicating with the company through the phone since then,” the defendant said in his testimony.

He also told the interrogators that “their claims of theft and escaping is a malicious statement and a false allegation that is not true, and that it did not happen”, adding that he doesn’t know the reason for filing a complaint against him.

However, the final verdict was to imprison the defendant for three months, to deport him and permanently ban him from entering the Kingdom.