Employee sentenced to 12 years in jail and fined BD100,000 for laundering BD1 million in property scam

TDT | Manama

Email : editor@newsofbahrain.com

A real estate company employee has been sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined BD100,000 after laundering over a million dinars obtained through fraud, embezzlement and tampering with electronic property records.

The First High Criminal Court also ordered the confiscation of BD1,064,502 from his assets and accounts.

He was further instructed to repay BD388,444 to the company and to provide BD5,001 in provisional civil compensation for the losses caused.

The man had been entrusted with access to company finances and title deeds through his role.

Pake payment

Instead of doing his job, he fiddled with the firm’s internal system, inserting fake payment details to make it look as though certain properties had been bought when they hadn’t.

Testimony from company staff and external auditors, along with warrants to inspect the defendant’s financial affairs, revealed the extent of the misconduct.

According to the Financial Intelligence National Centre (FINC), the man had moved funds between his own bank accounts and those held by relatives, obscuring the source of the money.

Part of the proceeds was used to build a private residence and buy another property, both registered under different names.

Origins

Prosecutors said the aim was to disguise the origins of the funds and give them the appearance of legitimacy. Faced with mounting evidence, the defendant admitted to the charges during questioning.

He was held in custody throughout the investigation and referred to trial, where the court handed down its verdict and ordered the forfeiture of the laundered proceeds.