A dated case was finally brought to verdict in court, when a man was sentenced to five years in prison for raising funds for investment without a licence between 2016 and 2018.
The High Criminal Court convicted the Bahraini for taking the money of three individuals and promising monthly returns, without acquiring a licence from the Central Bank of Bahrain.
In 2016, he reportedly received BD88,000 from one of the victims, and only gave back a total of BD27,000 over several intervals, leaving an outstanding amount of BD61,000.
Another victim reportedly invested BD20,000 in his plan and got half of it back, while a third victim gave him BD20,000 in 2017 and witnessed no returns at all.
The court heard that, although the man had several commercially registered (CR) businesses, investment was not listed as a licenced activity according to Industry and Commerce Ministry records.
According to the Public Prosecution, he admitted to receiving, managing and employing the funds given to him by the three hopeful investors. He had previously been convicted of a similar crime, the court heard. A letter from the CBB confirmed that the man indeed had no licence to carry out investment activity.
After the defendant collected BD128,000, the three investors were still owed a total of BD91,000.
On top of the jail sentence, judges fined the Bahraini man BD100,000, ruled to confiscate any profits generated by his actions, and ordered him to return lost funds to the victims.
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