An expat owner of an advertising establishment was yesterday sentenced to three years in prison by the Lower Criminal Court for illegally claiming and pocketing more than BD34,000.
Two of his accomplices were sentenced to two years each.
All the three men were also fined BD5,000 each and the owner will be deported after completing his sentence.
The defendants were found guilty of fraud, forging private documents and using them to commit a crime.
According to the details of the case, the General Directorate of Anti-Corruption and Economic and Electronic Security received a complaint from the Labour Fund (Tamkeen) about the owner’s suspicious behaviour.
An investigation revealed that he had submitted fake employment contracts for about 30 workers.
A number of inspections and field visits confirmed this and a number of inaccuracies were found in information submitted.
The owner also presented false documents claiming to have paid wages to employees, which allowed him to unlawfully obtain financial support amounting to BD34,685 from Tamkeen.
The Public Prosecution revealed that the owner committed the crimes with the help of the two accomplices who provided him with the forged contracts.
Tamkeen affirmed its commitment to continue its supervisory efforts to ensure preventing any fraud or illegal exploitation of the support provided, within the framework of a comprehensive supervisory plan and strict legal procedures.
The fund praised the fruitful co-operation with the competent authorities, stressing the importance of protecting public funds and ensuring that support is directed to those who deserve it in the best possible way.
Tamkeen praised the constructive partnership with all relevant parties to ensure the enforcement of laws and regulations in force in Bahrain, and Tamkeen’s internal regulations, stressing the need to follow the laws and adhere to all provisions and requirements to avoid any wrong practices that may lead to penalties being imposed on beneficiary institutions and individuals.
This comes at a time when Tamkeen continues its monitoring efforts in following up on beneficiaries of employment and wage support programmes during and after the end of the support period, as more than 6,440 inspection visits have been carried out for support beneficiaries since the launch of the updated package of programmes.
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