Accountant Sentenced to Five Years for Embezzling Over BD40,000 from Gulf Air Academy

TDT | Manama
Email : editor@newsofbahrain.com

The High Criminal Court has sentenced a 36-year-old accountant to five years imprisonment and a fine of BD 41,770.795. He has also been ordered to repay the same amount to Gulf Air Academy, a subsidiary of Gulf Air Group, following his conviction.

As per the case records, the Public Prosecution accused the accountant, who served as a senior accountant and acting head of accounts and finance at the academy, of embezzling BD 54,121 between January 2021 and April 2022. The prosecution alleged that he exploited his position to misappropriate cash payments received from trainees, diverting the funds for his personal use instead of depositing them into the academy's accounts.

The accountant was further accused of manipulating the academy's electronic information system. He allegedly altered transaction data and dates, falsified bank reconciliations, omitted accurate data, and systematically prepared monthly reconciliation reports to conceal his embezzlement.

He also reportedly entered false value-added tax (VAT) entries to cover discrepancies between the academy's bank records and its electronic system.

Testimonies from the academy's finance and accounts director revealed that since November 11, 2021, the department had consisted of two employees: the defendant and an accounts coordinator.

"The coordinator, who was primarily focused on preparing the 2022 financial plan, delegated most departmental tasks to the defendant. In the December 2021 reconciliation report, I noticed irregularities including the coordinator's own signature, despite not having reviewed or prepared it. Upon the defendant's resignation in April 2022, discrepancies were discovered," she stated.

These included a BD 50,000 VAT payment made by the academy, despite the parent company being responsible for this tax. Further inconsistencies revealed that funds received in certain months were recorded as received in other months.

The civil case will now be referred to the competent civil court.