Court Convicts Ten in Major Bahrain Social Insurance and Tamkeen Fraud Case

The Head of the Financial and Money Laundering Crimes Prosecution announced that the First High Criminal Court today convicted ten defendants, sentencing them to prison terms ranging from one year to ten years. Additionally, two of the defendants were fined BD 100,000 each, while the remaining defendants were fined BD 500 each.

The court found the defendants guilty of submitting false information through the electronic systems of the Social Insurance Organization and the Labour Fund “Tamkeen,” as well as forging official documents to embezzle more than BD 230,000 from the two entities.

The case originated after the Financial and Money Laundering Crimes Prosecution received multiple reports from the Social Insurance Organization, alleging that several company owners had unlawfully obtained over BD 90,000 from the organization. The defendants submitted forged documents and manipulated the electronic system by adding and removing insured employees to benefit from social insurance entitlements. This allowed them to claim retirement pensions, end-of-service bonuses, and one-time compensations they were not entitled to.

Similarly, the Labour Fund “Tamkeen” reported that the same defendants embezzled more than BD 140,000 in employee wage support by submitting forged documents via the fund’s electronic system.

Following these reports, the Public Prosecution immediately launched investigations, taking testimonies from representatives of the Social Insurance Organization, Tamkeen, and others. The prosecution also ordered travel bans and froze the defendants’ accounts and assets. Investigations by the Anti-Corruption and Economic and Electronic Crimes Directorate confirmed the defendants’ involvement. The National Centre for Financial Investigations tracked the financial transactions and movements of the defendants. Additionally, several employees whose records were manipulated were interviewed, and an expert in document forgery confirmed that their employment contracts had been falsified.

The Public Prosecution subsequently ordered the arrest of the defendants, interrogated them, and confronted them with the collected verbal, material, and technical evidence. The case was then referred to the criminal court, which issued today’s verdict.