Court Jails Investment Company Owner for 8 Years Over BD 6m Fraud and Embezzlement

Manama: The First High Criminal Court has sentenced the owner of an investment company to eight years in prison, fined him BD 105,000, and ordered the confiscation of more than BD 6 million, or an equivalent amount, representing the proceeds of crimes involving fraud, forgery and money laundering.

The court also sentenced the company’s chief executive officer and two members of its board of directors to one year in prison each and fined each of them BD 5,000. The civil claims in the case were referred to the competent court.

According to case details, the defendants were involved in defrauding investors, forging documents and embezzling more than BD 6 million through 388 fictitious transactions, in addition to laundering the proceeds of these crimes.

The case came to light after the National Center for Financial Investigations received a report highlighting suspicious financial activities linked to the company owner. These activities included issuing fake cheques, unjustified cash withdrawals and deposits from the company’s accounts, and payments not stipulated in investment contracts.

Investigations revealed that the main defendant unlawfully seized investors’ funds by promoting fictitious investment deals. Using commercial records, he falsely claimed that their owners had applied for financial financing, presented these fabricated transactions to investors for approval, and persuaded them to invest in the non-existent deals, enabling him to embezzle more than BD 6 million.

The investigations further found that the CEO and two board members were complicit by allowing the company owner to carry out two transactions without informing investors of their true nature, which facilitated the misappropriation of investors’ funds.