Funds scandal

Appeal continues in BD86,000 school forgery case

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

The Court of Appeal is still hearing the case of three government-school employees convicted of taking BD86,000 from school funds by forging and using official documents.

Judges ordered a three-member panel of experts to report on the file and stayed the first appellant’s sentence until the appeal is decided.

The original judgment set 10 years’ jail for the first defendant, a fine of BD75,204 and 345 fils, and restitution of the same amount to the school; three years for the second, with a fine of BD10,897 and 550 fils and restitution; and one year for the third, with a BD 790 fine and restitution.

Maximum penalties

In an earlier hearing, the Public Prosecution asked for the maximum penalties, saying the evidence shows forged papers were used to seize the money.

The case began in April 2024 when the Ministry of Education’s Financial Resources Directorate carried out a routine audit at a government school and found suspect steps around invoices and spending.

An internal inquiry was opened.

Breaches

Its work pointed to a pattern of financial and administrative breaches between September 2019 and March 2024: hidden invoices and records; cheques issued in the names of people inside and outside the school; forged cheques, invoices and vouchers; and sham invoices and purchase quotations.

The inquiry put total embezzlement at BD87,000, counted 163 forged cheques, 203 fake purchase quotations, 51 doubtful invoices and dealings involving 355 invoices.

Investigators named the first defendant as Head of Administrative and Financial Services.

Accounts

He oversaw buying, receipt of services, approval of financial papers and the signing of cheques, and admitted taking money and moving it to his own accounts using documents presigned in blank by the school principal.

The second was the treasurer, in charge of cashing cheques, petty cash and keeping funds and cheque books.

The third was a senior equipment technician who handled purchase requests and liaised with the finance committee.

Sham invoices

The probe also found the first and second defendants produced sham invoices with specialised software on their own computers to hide who gained from the funds, which went on personal bills for electricity, water, beauty salons, clinics and fuel.

Prosecutors charged the three, as public employees, with taking school money in concert with the principal and forging official documents to enable the offence.

The court will consider the experts’ report before ruling on the appeal.