Four foreign nationals have been jailed for a number of financial crimes, including illegal fundraising, money laundering, and document forgery, swindling their victims out of more than BD3 million.
The Financial Crimes and Money Laundering Prosecution unit confirmed last night that the High Criminal Court found the defendants guilty and ordered their deportation after completing their sentences. The first defendant was sentenced to eight years in prison and fined BD100,000. He was also ordered to repay BD3,371,250 to the rightful owners.
He was convicted for offences related to the unlawful collection of funds for investment without a proper licence, falsifying electronic records, and issuing cheques with insufficient funds. The second, third, and fourth defendants were sentenced to prison terms ranging from one to five years.
The corporate entity involved was also fined BD100,000 for its role in laundering money.
In addition, the court ordered the confiscation of assets valued at BD1,843,089.
The National Financial Investigation Unit’s inquiry revealed that the primary defendant was a repeat offender with an international criminal history who entered Bahrain under an alias, and established a company specialising in the trade of collectibles and souvenirs. He managed to collect more than BD3.3m from various individuals for the purpose of investing without obtaining the necessary licences.
Further investigations by the Public Prosecution uncovered that the main defendant had used fraudulent cheques to secure funds and had transferred large sums exceeding BD1.8m through various personal and corporate accounts in an attempt to disguise the illegal origin of the money.
The Public Prosecution, after reviewing all related documents and bank account information, referred the case to court, where the sentences were handed down yesterday.
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