A FRAUDSTER jailed for seven years for conning a man desperate to gain Bahraini citizenship out of BD300,000 has lost his final appeal against sentence.
The victim, whose nationality has not been revealed in court documents, was tricked into handing over the cash to the Bahraini businessman in November, 2021, according to court documents.
In exchange for the money, the defendant, with the help of another accomplice who has also been jailed for seven years in this case, managed to steal a passport and forge documentation using the victim’s details.
The 45-year-old defendant had earlier bragged that he could help the hapless expatriate obtain citizenship with the help of his ‘connections’ at the Interior Ministry’s Nationality, Passports and Residence Affairs department, the court heard.
Both Bahraini defendants were found guilty of fraud, forgery and theft by the High Criminal Court in March last year. They both lodged appeals against their conviction at the Supreme Criminal Appeals Court, which were rejected in September.
The Cassation Court dealt with just one of the guilty men and upheld his sentence yesterday.
“The 45-year-old, with the help of his co-defendant, stole a passport which he used to scam the victim,” read the court ruling. “They then forged the document and he took BD300,000 from his victim in return for so-called ‘Bahraini citizenship’.”
His final appeal was dismissed as the court felt the evidence supported a guilty verdict.
The victim was initially accused of forgery too but he was acquitted of the charge.
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