Businessman accused of laundering BD20m

A businessman and his business partner are said to have laundered BD20,000,000 by manipulating the accounts of a local telecommunication company, the High Criminal Court heard yesterday.

The businessman, aged 38, was a board member of the telecommunications company and he made suspicious bank transfers, according to prosecutors. The money he netted from such transactions amounted to BD20m, according to court files. Moreover, he allegedly signed contracts between his company and another telecom company for the exclusive use of some Internet services, from which he generated BD14m.

The businessman is said to have falsified account information to fool the owners of the company. The information showed that the company had managed to achieve profitability targets although it was not the case, the prosecutors say. “Such a trick allowed him to obtain profits of more than BD1.5m,” the prosecutors said.