The Public Prosecution will ask judges to order the defendants involved in a major embezzlement case to return embezzled money as it takes the case back to court today.
In December, a businessman was found guilty by the High Criminal Court of forgery, money laundering and defrauding people who put funds of more than BD6 million into his bogus investment platform.
Although three of his company’s top officials were convicted of aiding and abetting him, only the Bahraini magnate was ordered to pay fines and restitution totalling nearly BD14m.
Now, the Public Prosecution is asking the Supreme Criminal Appeals Court to fine his co-defendants BD320,000 for their participation in the scheme, stating that they helped him launder that amount.
In the original verdict, the three accomplices – the company’s chief executive officer and two board members – were each sentenced to a year in prison and were slapped with a BD5,000 fine.
Meanwhile, the well-known businessman was sentenced to eight years in prison and fined BD105,000. The court also ruled to confiscate BD6,831,205 of his property and assets, and ordered that he return BD6,831,707 as restitution to more than 350 victims who invested in his business empire.
“The judge’s decision to fine the investment company’s owner, and order him to return the stolen funds, without obligating the other suspects to do so, is an erroneous application of the law,” read the statement.
The guilty men were not ordered to return the money even though they were convicted of participating in the embezzlement, particularly in the last two investment deals, worth BD320,000, a decision that the prosecutors described as ‘a mistake’.
“This has called on the Public Prosecution to intervene and exercise its authority by contesting the aforementioned verdict, through the appeals process,” the statement added.
The GDN earlier reported that the investment company, implicated in the case is owned by the main suspect’s highly-successful parent company.
A tip from National Centre for Financial Investigations sparked an investigation, stating that the suspects tricked individuals into investing in the company through falsified business deals.
The centre had received a financial report indicating that the owner took a number of suspicious actions, like submitting dud cheques to the company’s accountants, withdrawing funds from its accounts with no clear justification, and making payments that were not indicated in any written contracts.
He used several registered companies as a pretence, falsely claiming that their owners needed funding to grow their ventures, then presented them as investment opportunities to his targets.
“When the investors agreed to finance the businesses, he swindled the money they put in, using the funds to his own advantage, carrying out transactions to lend them legitimacy,” read an earlier statement.
Prosecutors earlier stated that the three co-defendants had abetted him in these crimes by enabling him to ‘execute his criminal project’ through their various specialised roles in his companies.
They accused the three of knowing the scheme but not alerting investors, thereby allowing the owner to pocket the money.
The Central Bank of Bahrain audit stated that the defendant authored and signed the cheques, and addressed them to his name. He used the embezzled money to pay off debts and loans, the court heard.
The businessman’s assets were frozen, and the prosecution appointed a manager to administer his holdings. A travel ban was also placed to forbid him from leaving the country.
Three attorneys, representing the 352 victims earlier requested court documents, so they can pursue civil litigation after the trial ends.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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