Court date set as appellant convicted of fraud to secure legal representation

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

The High Appeals Court has scheduled December 23rd for the appointment of a lawyer to represent an appellant convicted of fraud. The defendant was sentenced to three years imprisonment and a fine of BD2,000 for stealing BD5,000 from a bank customer’s account. While the defendant successfully transferred the funds to cover a debt, the transaction was quickly discovered, preventing him from benefiting from the theft.

The incident, which occurred on April 14th, 2022, involved the defendant and an unknown accomplice illegally accessing the bank account of a local bank’s customer. Using fraudulent means, they obtained the customer’s bank details and verification code.

Transaction

They then accessed the bank’s information technology system, and used the funds to pay off the defendant’s debt to a commercial company through the Ministry of Justice’s online portal in return for a commission from the transaction.

The crime was foiled when the fraudulent transaction was detected and reversed by authorities, returning the funds to the customer’s account. Police investigations and witness testimonies corroborated the details of the incident and the defendant’s involvement. A fraud department supervisor at a company specialised in online payments testified that their company provides electronic payment services to various organisations, including ministries.

They received a complaint from a bank regarding a BD5,000 unauthorised withdrawal from a customer’s account via a Ministry of Justice transaction (related to an enforcement file). This prompted the Ministry of Justice to intervene, cancel the transaction, and return the funds to the customer’s account.

It was confirmed that the money had been paid to the defendant to settle a debt owed to a Bahraini commercial company. An officer from the General Directorate of Anti-Corruption and Economic & Electronic Security corroborated the previous witness’s testimony