Former lawyer sentenced to five years in jail for crafting fake court ruling

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

A forged court ruling that nearly fooled the Justice Ministry has landed a former lawyer in prison for five years.

The appeals court upheld the original sentence and ordered the fake documents to be confiscated.

The man had drawn up a bogus judgment, making it appear as though the court had approved the enforcement of a preliminary sale contract.

The civil case named a real estate firm as the claimant, with the two original owners and the Survey and Land Registration Bureau (SLRB) listed as defendants.

The forged ruling was used in an attempt to transfer ownership of the property to the company, on the basis that the sale had been cleared by the courts.

Verification

When the document was sent to the Ministry of Justice for verification, a member of staff began to check its details.

The case numbers didn’t match anything in the system. The court said to have issued the judgment hadn’t even sat on the dates shown.

Official records

The panel of judges named in the ruling didn’t match any official records either.

The ministry replied in writing that no such ruling existed in its files.

Questioned by the Public Prosecution, the defendant admitted he had read the forged ruling and sent it to someone acting on behalf of the property owners, fully aware it was false.

Computer

He said he had used the computer of another lawyer, whose name appeared on the document, to file the case.

That lawyer told investigators he had only given the defendant access to his account on the government portal and had no part in preparing or submitting the documents.

A witness from the real estate company said the defendant was the only person at the firm handling the property matter.

Ruling

He recalled the man informing him that the court had ruled in their favour.

One of the victims confirmed they had received the ruling from the defendant, and said it had already been marked for use.

Court records also showed the defendant had a previous conviction for forging a private document.