An Asian woman was sentenced to four years behind bars and ordered to pay thousands of dinars in fines after being found guilty of money laundering and fraud.
The High Criminal Court also obligated the female to pay BD46,000 from her finances and property as she also aided an unknown individual abroad in scamming people through fake bank calls and fraudulent competitions.
According to court documents, the defendant was able to collect BD23,000 from victims by scamming them through fake contests.
An Asian man was acquitted of aiding and abetting the crime.
“One of the victims had submitted a report to the General Directorate of Anti-Corruption, Economic and Electronic Security claiming that an unknown individual had stolen money from his account,” stated the court in its ruling.
“Police investigations identified the bank account to which the funds were transferred.
“Officers later found that the defendant had conducted several suspicious financial transfers during the same time.
“She was also linked to criminal activity with individuals abroad, who contacted victims through telephone calls and text messages and offered fake jobs.
“They lured the victims into divulging personal information and seized their funds by tricking them into believing that transaction fees had to be paid to complete procedures.
“Some victims were told that they had won attractive financial prizes as well.”
The Public Prosecution had ordered the disclosure of private bank accounts used in the incident and tracked financial movements and transactions conducted through them.
The Financial Investigation Department also identified a number of victims and their bank accounts and traced the majority of the stolen funds to accounts abroad.
“The investigation also revealed that the defendant had conducted financial operations with the money obtained through fraud,” added court documents.
“The Public Prosecution ordered the seizure of her accounts and property, reviewed statements of investigators, victims and witnesses and questioned the accused.
“Investigations revealed that the woman had used the bank account of the Asian man – who was acquitted – and his credit card to conduct a few operations.
“However, the Asian denied any knowledge of the crime and said the female defendant sought to use his bank account as she hadn’t renewed her passport and was facing problems in receiving money.”
In his statement to the Public Prosecution, the man said he granted access to his account and credit card as the defendant was his wife’s friend and neighbour.
The High Criminal Court acquitted the Asian man of the charges due to insufficient evidence against him.
“The female defendant has been sentenced to 12 months for fraud and three years in prison along with a BD3,000 fine for money laundering,” stated the court in its ruling.
“A total of BD23,658.470 has been seized from the defendant’s money and property,” the court said, adding that the woman will also have to pay an equal amount as fine.
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