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A mechanic, who promised an elderly business owner that he would sell three of his vehicles for BD26,000 but pocketed the money, has lost his appeal against a jail sentence.
The Supreme Criminal Appeals Court has upheld a verdict issued by the High Criminal Court in January this year, sentencing the 30-year-old Bahraini man to five years in prison after finding him guilty of embezzlement and falsifying signatures.
The defendant was previously convicted on the same charges in a similar forgery case, in which he was entrusted a valuable item but reportedly breached the other party’s trust.
In this case, he was charged with collaborating with a well-meaning public employee to complete a transaction based on a
falsehood, after he forged signatures on a vehicle ownership transfer certificate.
He was also accused of submitting a falsified document to the General Directorate of Traffic while he knew that it was invalid.
He successfully managed to complete an ownership transfer of the car from the company’s possession to several individuals.
In the initial High Criminal Court trial, the man’s lawyer claimed that a settlement had been reached between the defendant and car owner, and that he would present documents proving that to the court, but that did not appear to have come to fruition.
The GDN earlier reported that the 70-year-old business owner handed the defendant two Jeep Cherokee and one Cadillac Escalade to sell, but never received
the amount for which they were sold.
“I’ve known the defendant for 10 years, he works in document clearance for car sales, and I’ve used his services for a long time,” the owner of the vehicles earlier testified.
“I give him cars, and he sells them.
“This time around, he told me he sold the cars to another company, but he kept delaying the transfer of the money.
“We reached out to the General Directorate of Traffic, and it appeared that he did not sell them to a company, and had
also signed vehicle ownership transfer forms for me, without my knowledge.”
Another witness, who one of the Jeeps were sold to, testified that he paid BD6,500 for a black Jeep Cherokee.
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