Senior officials to testify in ‘Khatwa’ funds fraud case

TDT | Manama     

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

The High Criminal Court has decided to summon the investigative officer and the director of the National Audit Office in the “Khatwa” case to testify.

This case involves three defendants from the Ministry of Social Development accused of causing damage worth BD266,000 to public funds by falsifying program applications.

The case came to light after the National Audit Office conducted an investigation into the “Khatwa” program, which provides support to home-based businesses.

The investigation revealed that the defendants issued false statements for program participants, claiming they were working from home when they were not, to benefit from optional insurance and purchase years of service retroactively without justification.

Subsequent investigations by the Anti-Corruption Crimes Investigation Department identified the employees responsible for issuing the forged statements and their plan to commit the crime.

The findings were reported to the Public Prosecution. The Public Prosecution investigated the case, reviewing the statements in question and questioning witnesses about the procedures for adding periods and registering beneficiaries. They ordered the arrest and questioning of the defendants and confronted them with the evidence.

The first defendant admitted to approving the statements without verifying their accuracy.

The third defendant confessed to forging an official document by obtaining a statement from the Ministry of Social Development stating that she was registered in the “Khatwa” program, while she was also assigned by the ministry to work as a trainer in the program.

She stated that the second defendant suggested this to her and prepared the statement for her.