Three Asian Nationals Jailed for Money Laundering in Bahrain

The Head of the Financial Crimes and Money Laundering Prosecution has announced that the First High Criminal Court has convicted three Asian nationals — along with a fourth individual who is now deceased — of committing money laundering offences involving illegal funds.

The court sentenced the three defendants to five years in prison each and imposed a fine of BD 300,000. Additionally, the court ordered the confiscation of BD 138,747.737 from the assets and properties of the convicted individuals and the deceased accused. The defendants will also be deported permanently after serving their sentences.

According to the Public Prosecution, investigations began after several individuals of different nationalities were arrested for committing various crimes. Financial investigations were launched to trace how the proceeds from those crimes were managed. The Prosecution ordered the lifting of banking secrecy on the suspects’ accounts and tasked the National Financial Intelligence Centre with conducting financial analysis and tracing the movement of funds.

The investigation revealed that the three defendants and the deceased individual had received and acquired BD 138,747.737 derived from their criminal activities. They conducted a series of financial operations, including currency exchanges and international money transfers, in an attempt to conceal the illicit origins of the funds and make them appear legitimate.

Following the completion of the investigations, the Public Prosecution referred the case to the First High Criminal Court, which issued the aforementioned verdict.