Bahrain court upholds jail term of Corrupt businesswoman

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

A Bahraini businesswoman convicted of bribing a public official has lost her appeal to reverse a one-year prison sentence. She was also fined BD16,000, which the High Appeals Court upheld. The woman went on trial with an employee of the Jaffaria Waqf Directorate who was accused of squandering BD60 million and accepting a bribe of BD16,000 from his co-defendant.

According to court files, the defendant was a director at the Directorate’s land classification department. He allegedly accepted the money from the woman after promising to modify the classification of land property she rented from his organisation.

However, his inability to do so caused her to expose what transpired at a meeting with Jaffaria Waqf officials. She stated that the defendant instructed her to write the recipient’s name on a BD16,000 cheque. As a result, his superiors launched a thorough investigation, which concluded not only that the defendant accepted a bribe, but that he also squandered BD60 million during his tenure.

It was discovered that the defendant’s wife received the money. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and did not appeal the decision.