Three government school employees who allegedly embezzled around BD86,000 have been referred for trial at the High Criminal Court.
The head of Financial Crimes and Money Laundering Prosecution stated that the defendants, whose ages and nationalities were not disclosed, reportedly forged documents and used them to commit the crime.
Following a report from the Education Ministry, the authorities launched an investigation which revealed a number of administrative and financial violations by the accused, who were reportedly members of the school’s financial committee.
Investigators gathered witness testimonies and collected evidence, which showed that the trio concealed purchase invoices and supporting documents and forged cheques and financial receipts, which allowed them to misappropriate the school funds.
A technical report of the computers used by the accused revealed that at least one of the defendants allegedly used specialised software to create and alter cheques, falsify invoices and purchase orders and then obtained signatures from authorised personnel without proper permission or justification.
As part of the investigation, the prosecution issued orders to lift the confidentiality of the defendants’ bank accounts in order to trace their financial transactions.
This aimed to identify the source of deposited funds and track their usage. The accounts were subsequently frozen.
The prosecution also placed travel bans on the defendants, pending the conclusion of the investigation.
Further testimonies from merchants whose invoices and documents were involved revealed that some had no dealings with the school, while others’ transactions did not align with the forged documents.
Investigations from the General Directorate of Anti-Corruption and Economic and Electronic Security and reports from the Financial Intelligence National Centre confirmed that the defendants had received more than 200 school cheques, some of which were reportedly deposited into their accounts, while others were cashed and misused for personal purposes.
Following their identification and arrest, the defendants were interrogated, and one of them admitted to forging documents and cheques and depositing the amounts into their personal accounts.
The second and third defendants confessed to assisting the main accused in obtaining the cheques and depositing proceeds into their accounts.
Based on this, the prosecution ordered their detention and referred them for trial on charges of embezzling public funds, forging documents and using forged documents. They were then referred to the High Criminal Court for trial, with the case scheduled to be heard on January 27.
The prosecution head reiterated its commitment to rigorously combat corruption in all forms to safeguard public funds and the integrity of public service.
They stated that those who violate or cause harm to the kingdom’s financial stability will face the wrath of the law.
Members of the public are being urged to report any suspicions of financial crimes by using the Nazaha hotline at 992.
nader@gdnmedia.bh
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