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A civil servant, who tried to charm desperate divorcées and widows with offers of marriage as part of his money-making ploy, has been sentenced to 22 years in prison for embezzling more than BD483,000 in public funds, which were meant to go to needy families, then laundering the embezzled amounts.
Yesterday, the High Criminal Court ordered the Bahraini man, with a taste for luxury cars and spending beyond his means, to return the stolen BD483,107, fined him BD583,107, and ruled to confiscate BD414,887 from his property and assets.
He was sentenced to 15 years in prison for embezzlement and forgery and an additional seven years for the money laundering charge.
The court also ruled that the defendant receive the penalty of civil disqualification, effective for 10 years beginning from when he started his prison sentence. As part of this penalty, the convict is deprived of civil rights and privileges like holding public office or running for elections.
Judges also ruled to confiscate falsified documents used to defraud his then-employee, the now-defunct Jaffari Waqf (Endowments) Directorate.
The defendant reportedly doctored assistance requests, using other people’s identities, and submitted them as applications. When the requests were reviewed and accepted, he took the money for himself, the court heard.
These cheques, authored by the directorate, were deposited to his personal accounts, which he used to buy a property and two vehicles – a Lexus and a Jetour – as well as pay off two loans and credit card debt.
Numerous witnesses came forward in this trial, including several women whose names he used in the assistance requests. According to their testimonies, he took advantage of widows and divorcées who did not have a stable income.
He would reportedly tell them that he would take care of their expenses from his personal finances, then tried to court them with ‘offers of marriage in order to earn their trust’.
Some of the cheques would be issued in the women’s names and he would ask them to re-route the money to him, they testified.
The court heard that he was in the process of embezzling BD58,000 more but had not got around to depositing the funds by the time that authorities caught on to his scheme.
He reportedly admitted to manipulating and altering data in the directorate’s electronic systems to facilitate and conceal the fraud.
An investigation was launched after the Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments Ministry reported suspected financial irregularities involving an employee.
According to prosecutors, extensive investigations revealed that the accused allegedly diverted charity funds allocated to needy beneficiaries into his personal bank account over a prolonged period.
A three-member committee from the National Audit Office (NAO) was appointed to review and examine the transactions, while prosecutors also ordered the disclosure and freezing of the suspect’s bank accounts, assets and properties.
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