The owner of a company, specialised in courier services and logistics, has been sentenced to three years in prison for evading more than BD65,000 in value-added tax (VAT) between 2020 and 2023.
The entrepreneur told the court that he used that money to pay his employees’ wages, during the uncertain and turbulent times following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the Public Prosecution, the man collected VAT from tax-able services he offered to customers, but did not pass it on to the National Bureau of Revenue (NBR) when the time came to pay up.
On top of the jail sentence, the High Criminal Court ordered the 46-year-old man to pay BD65,103 of unpaid taxes. The company itself was on trial and was also fined BD195,306.
Legal action was pursued against the defendant when the Tax Evasion Unit at the Financial Crimes and Money Laundering Prosecution reported him to the NBR for filing for taxes without paying them.
The bureau forwarded the case to the Public Prosecution and a travel ban was placed on the Bahraini until investigations were complete. He reportedly admitted to the charges.
Prosecutors recorded the testimonies of tax experts and inspected documents related to the evasion.
“The defendant did not settle the outstanding VAT payments within the legal deadline of 120 days, although he handed the NBR periodical reports,” read the statement.
The businessman from Sanabis was charged with the crime as the company’s owner and signatory, while the business was tried as a commercial establishment registered with the bureau for tax purposes.
A legal expert at the NBR’s Legal Affairs Directorate testified to the prosecution that the man filed for taxes 11 times and failed to pay 11 times.
According to Sijilat commercial registration (CR) records, the With Limited Liability (WLL) company was licensed to offer local courier, express and food delivery services, and provide consultations for management.
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