Duo jailed and fined over tax and customs violations

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

Two men have been sentenced to three years in prison after a court found them guilty of evading value added tax and breaking customs disclosure rules at Bahrain International Airport.

The High Criminal Court also fined the first defendant BD102,711 and ordered him to pay the evaded tax in the same amount.

The second defendant was fined BD207,044 and told to pay the evaded tax in the same amount.

Breach

Both men were sentenced to a further three months in prison for breaching the system used in customs areas to declare money and valuables.

The court ordered their permanent deportation from Bahrain after they serve their sentences and ruled that the seized items be confiscated.

The case began after Customs Affairs reported two suspects who tried to take high-value watches out through the customs area without declaring them, according to prosecutors.

Suspicion

Customs officers said they grew suspicious of the pair and asked if they had anything to declare. They denied it.

A search then uncovered four expensive watches hidden in a way meant to avoid detection.

Investigators questioned the customs officers involved and later interrogated the two defendants.

They told investigators they were engaged in an economic activity involving buying luxury watches in Bahrain and reselling them abroad.

The unit handling the case then contacted the National Bureau for Revenue to check the pair’s VAT refund activity.

The bureau found 182 refund transactions linked to the defendants, with total refunds of BD309,755.

Refunds

The NBR concluded the refunds had been taken without entitlement because the men were running an economic activity, placing them outside the tourist VAT refund scheme set by law.

The case was then referred to court.