Fake papers, sham hires

TDT | Manama

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BD230,000 Tamkeen–SIO case heads to judgment on 16 September

Prosecutors allege that forged contracts and sham hires led to the misappropriation of BD230,000 from Tamkeen and the Social Insurance Organisation (SIO).

The High Criminal Court will rule on 16 September in the case of 10 defendants.

The Financial Crimes and Money Laundering Prosecution said reports from the SIO pointed to more than BD90,000 taken after forged papers were filed and false entries were made in its online system.

The entries added and removed insured persons to create made-up service periods, which then opened the way to pensions, end-of-service gratuities and one-off payments without right.

Documents

Tamkeen reported that the same group drew more than BD140,000 in wage support by sending forged documents through its portal.

According to the charge sheet, the first and second defendants entered false data into two state systems so it read as genuine.

Through the websites of the SIO and Tamkeen, they lodged contracts that claimed workers had been hired at shell firms, with job titles and salaries that did not exist.

Requests

Those entries were then used to file add and remove requests in the social insurance system and to seek pensions and lump sums from the SIO, as well as wage support from Tamkeen.

Prosecutors also allege the pair altered official electronic records by sending in false hiring data, which was then stored in the two bodies’ registers.

The case names three men and seven women among the accused.