TWELVE defendants, including an expatriate businesswoman, are in the dock for allegedly producing dodgy visa documents in exchange for payments of thousands of dinars.
They appeared at the High Criminal Court yesterday where they denied bribery and forgery charges.
Those in the dock include three Bahraini Exits, Search and Follow-up Directorate employees, aged 39, 23, and 24, as well as a 42-year-old retired Bahraini man, two 42-year-old Indian businessmen, a 47-year-old Indian businesswoman, a 31-year-old Indian cashier, a 46-year-old Indian manager, a 34-year-old Pakistani labourer and a 57-year-old Bahraini driver. A 33-year-old Bahraini accountant, also charged, is still at large, the court heard.
The 39-year-old Bahraini denied receiving BD2,685.500 through 94 different BenefitPay transactions while the 23-year-old Bahraini denied receiving BD5,340 through 46 various transactions.
Despite all defendants denying the charges yesterday, which included the possession of pornographic material on their devices, the 57-year-old driver told the court that he was just a ‘middleman’ for the cash transfers.
“I would receive the passport copies through WhatsApp and would transfer the money through BenefitPay and keep some for myself as a commission for my work,” he told the lead judge in court yesterday.
“Although I was doing this, I warned the 23-year-old that such behaviour would cause him problems at his job and that he shouldn’t engage in these operations but he ignored me.
Middleman
“I took a percentage of the money I was sending to my co-defendants in exchange for my hard work as a middleman sending passport copies and money.”
Meanwhile, the 23-year-old Bahraini told the court that he doesn’t remember having ‘pornographic material’.
The 34-year-old Pakistani said that ‘the material was on his phone from WhatsApp groups’.
“I don’t want to admit or deny the possession of pornographic material because I honestly don’t remember,” said the 23-year-old.
The GDN previously reported that the suspects were apprehended after prosecutors received a notification from the Nationality, Passports and Residence Affairs (NPRA) about the incidents.
The Exits, Search and Follow-up Directorate employees allowed Bahrain visit-visa holders to travel into and out of Saudi Arabia, via the King Fahad Causeway, without a valid Saudi visa.
They also renewed expired visas of tourists by altering relevant data in a government portal.
This enabled travellers to have their visas renewed without leaving the country on a stipulated date.
According to an official statement previously released by the Public Prosecution, the three Bahraini employees, along with drivers and owners of clearance offices, accepted bribes and carried out the offences and illegally helped others to renew their visit visas.
The case was yesterday adjourned until January 18 for review, provide defence lawyers with documents, as well as bring in the 33-year-old Bahrain accountant into court while keeping all defendants in custody.
reem@gdnmedia.bh
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