A convicted serial conman and his legal adviser allegedly sued people in civil court without their knowledge, by ensuring they did not receive court summonses or lawsuit notifications.
Since the defendants entered their own phone numbers and addresses on the online form, 12 individuals were deprived of their chance to defend themselves in court.
Some of the alleged victims lost the lawsuits, but were unaware that they had received unfavourable judgements, according to the Public Prosecution.
Prosecutor Ahmed Al Ramadan yesterday asked High Criminal Court judges to hand down the maximum possible penalty in the case.
The court heard that the conman filed lawsuits through the Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments Ministry’s website, but allegedly entered his assistant’s phone number and a business address instead of the victims’ actual contact information.
The 53-year-old Bahraini businessman and the 44-year-old document clearance specialist were charged with entering false information into the digital systems of the ministry and the Information and eGovernment Authority (iGA).
Prosecutors stated that they knowingly lied on online forms of government bodies, omitting ‘essential information’ from their lawsuit applications.
They were also charged with feeding false data into government systems with the intention of presenting it as genuine.
However, it is unclear what cases the 12 individuals were involved in.
“The individuals sued by the defendants never received official notifications informing them that legal action had been filed against them,” Mr Al Ramadan said.
“This harmed the victims’ legal standing, with some losing the lawsuit and others facing ongoing litigation and proceedings.
“Meanwhile, some of the victims were dead.”
The prosecutor continued that the notifications were sent directly to the legal adviser, who works under the businessman, causing some of the people sued to miss all hearings.
The same phone number and address were used as contact details for 12 different individuals across multiple court cases over a period of time.
Police reportedly went to the address entered, and found that it belonged to one of the companies owned by the serial conman, while investigations proved that the number was legally registered under the second defendant’s name.
Prosecutors further stated that no one had been authorised to act on behalf of the first defendant or use e-services in his name, and that the lawsuits had been filed using his personal eKey.
The 44-year-old stated in prosecution hearings that he worked as a document clearance officer for several companies owned by his accomplice, from 2008 to 2022, and that he was tasked with keeping track of cases and financial claims.
He also claimed that his co-defendant was known for deceptive business practices, alleging that he sold mobile phones, electronic devices and gold bullion on instalment plans while charging excessive prices.
The 53-year-old businessman, meanwhile, denied knowledge of the alleged practices, telling prosecutors that he was rarely present at his offices and spent much of his time attending court proceedings.
Previously a leading labour unionist, he was convicted of fraud, embezzlement and scamming customers in many cases over the years, for which he served time in jail.
The GDN reported in 2015 that he was jailed for a year after being found guilty of deceiving a customer into paying more than BD4,000 for a laptop and mobile phone worth only BD800.
The trial was adjourned to August 10 for defence arguments.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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