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A MAN, who allegedly forged a boat ownership certificate to sell the vessel to the Agriculture Marine Resources Affairs for BD26,000, is standing trial at the High Criminal Court.
The sale was part of a government programme to provide relief to shrimpers after trawling was banned nationwide in 2018, by paying them in exchange for giving up their shrimping licences, vessels and equipment.
The 41-year-old Bahraini fisherman from East Eker allegedly sold the banoosh (dhow) despite not actually owning it as he had previously mortgaged the boat with a bank.
He is charged with fabricating the registration document from scratch, using it as if it was genuine, and successfully receiving a full payout from the Finance and National Economy Ministry.
Authorities only learned about the alleged fraud when the banoosh was sold in auction in 2023 when it appeared that the vessel was still under mortgage with the bank as it had not been paid off by the defendant.
Since the boat was under sequester, it could not be transferred to the buyer.
In 2019, the then-Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Ministry launched a scheme to buy shimpers’ assets and convert their shrimping licences to fishing licences.
This followed a ban on trawling which is a method of fishing that involves pulling a fishing net that is heavily weighted to keep it on the seafloor through the water behind one or more boats.
Trawling reportedly often damages the sea floor, destroys populations of baby fish and turtles and severely reduces marine life’s ability to reproduce.
The ban in Bahrain’s territorial waters was an urgent measure to protect sea life and help replenish the country’s precariously low fish stocks.
“The defendant submitted his application with documents attached and the banoosh was valued at BD26,000,” Supreme Council for the Environment inspection and compliance chief earlier testified.
He added that in the application form, the fisherman had to affirm that the boat was owned by him only and was not co-owned by anyone or mortgaged.
“The man signed the sales agreement and he was given a cheque issued by the Finance Ministry.
“In 2023, the same boat was sold in auction, but when the new owner went to the Transportation and Telecommunications Ministry to seal the deal, the ownership transfer could not be completed in the system as there was a sequester placed on the vessel.”
That is when the defendant was accused of completely fabricating the banoosh’s registration paperwork and was made to have his name on it, while the real certificate had the bank’s name on it.
The allegedly-forged document, attributed to the Coastguard, was scanned by ultraviolet and infrared methods and experts stated that the security hologram did not have the same reflectiveness as its genuine counterparts.
Court documents state that the boat has been under mortgage since 2007, placed as collateral by the defendant in exchange for a loan from the bank.
A verdict will be issued in the case on January 28.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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