Court jails expat worker for BD4,633 embezzlement

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

A Filipina expat who handled petty cash at a catering business has been sentenced to six months’ imprisonment after a court found she took BD4,633 by cycling company withdrawals through staff bank accounts and back to herself via a money transfer app.

The Lower Criminal Court also ordered her to repay the money, ruled the sentence should be carried out, and said she is to be deported after serving her term.

A second defendant, an Egyptian man accused of helping her and of obtaining company money by deception, was acquitted.

Responsibility The court said the woman started work in April 2023 as an HR manager and was given responsibility for petty cash and running costs.

She was provided with a bank card linked to the company account to withdraw funds for business needs, subject to approval from the accounts department.

Judges found she withdrew sums from the company account, handed cash to employees, and told them to deposit it into their personal accounts before sending it on to her electronically using a money transfer app.

Account

Once the money reached her account, she transferred it onwards to other accounts linked to her, with the court pointing to bank records showing multiple transfers tied to the same phone number.

According to lawyer Siddiqa Al Mawali, the court accepted BD4,633 as the proven total, based on transfers made by employees.

That included BD3,520 sent by a company driver, BD873 sent by a cook who said she was asked for her bank card and PIN, and a further BD240 sent by another driver.

Witness

The ruling said the finding rested on witness statements, police enquiries, an accounting expert’s report, and bank statements. She denied the charge.

Her lawyer argued the complaint was brought out of spite after she filed a labour case, questioned the reliability of witnesses, and attacked the accounting report, but the court rejected those arguments and convicted her.