Three jailed in BD300,000 investments scam trial

Three Asian men, aged 39, 43 and 45, have been sentenced to 10 years in prison each along with fines of BD100,000 each for collecting money illegally.

The trio are said to have raised a total amount of around BD300,000 from 22 different people in the period between 2013 and 2016, but they eventually cheated them.

According to court files, each victim paid an amount between BD2000 and BD35,000. The trio were reported to the Anti-Corruption and Economic and Electronic Security by the fraud victims. They were put on trial after it was found that they weren’t holding any licence from any authority to be eligible to raise funds for investment purposes.

It was found that the defendants were working at an electric shop. The High Criminal Court said that the defendants agreed between themselves to pocket the money collected from 22 victims without obtaining the required licence from the Industry, Commerce and Tourism Ministry as well as the Bahrain Central Bank.

The accused are at large and is believed to have fled the Kingdom. They were found guilty in absentia.