Fifth Minor Criminal Court Acquits Asian Employee of Embezzlement Charges

TDT | Manama

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The Fifth Minor Criminal Court has acquitted a woman in her forties, an Asian employee, of charges of embezzling funds from a company managing a chain of restaurants.

The defendant was represented by lawyer Reem Al-Mahari, who argued that the case was maliciously filed by the company, which accused the employee of misappropriating company funds.

Al-Mahari explained that her client worked in an administrative role, which included receiving checks to cover routine expenses such as workers’ and employees’ payments, transfers to the Labour Market Regulatory Authority, social insurance contributions, and petty cash. She submitted evidence showing that the funds in question had indeed been transferred to the relevant authorities. She also presented a labor court judgment indicating an unresolved dispute in which the company had withheld the employee’s labor rights.

The Public Prosecution had charged the defendant with embezzling BD 1,420 between 2023 and 2024, in Muharraq Governorate, alleging she misappropriated cash belonging to the company that was under her custody by virtue of her job. The accusation was based on an accounting report submitted by the complainant, in addition to his statements.

However, the court ruled that the evidence presented was insufficient to prove the charges. It noted that the case documents lacked reliable proof linking the defendant to the alleged crime, and that the accounting report did not conclusively establish embezzlement. The expert’s findings only confirmed that the defendant had issued seven checks totaling BD 1,420, without proving any wrongdoing.

The court further observed that the existence of labor disputes between the defendant and the complainant company added weight to the possibility of malicious intent behind the case. Based on Article 255 of the Criminal Procedure Law No. 46 of 2002, the court concluded that the charges were unsubstantiated and ruled to acquit the defendant.