Court jails two for money laundering

Manama : A court has upheld the jail terms of a couple convicted of laundering BD300,000. 

The Bahraini man and his Tunisian wife were earlier sentenced to five years in prison. The latter, however, fled the country after she had transferred the money to her home country.

She was held guilty in absentia, while her husband is already serving a five-year jail term after being convicted of running a brothel. The incident came to light after the wife betrayed her husband’s order to hide a safe box key with her until he completes his jail term. 

She allegedly received the key during a visit to him after he requested her to keep it in her custody until he leaves the jail. But instead, she used the key to unlock the safe and get the cash. Later, she doubled the amount with the sale of a high-end vehicle and a luxury apartment, both of which he had bought for her.

Prosecutors said the woman transferred the amount over the course of two months, during which about BD5000 was sent to Tunis on a daily basis.  

A Yemeni man allegedly helped the woman to do the transfers, by recruiting Asian men to transfer the money to Tunis daily in order to avoid suspicions.   

Their illegal activity was discovered by a clerk working in the exchange company. The clerk spotted the Yemeni man bringing in Asian men daily to transfer large sums of money to the North African country. When the clerk asked the Yemeni about the owner of the money, he told him about the Tunisian woman. However, she had managed to flee the country though the clerk tipped off the police.

The Public Prosecution regarded the case as a money laundering operation. Ironically, the woman asked her husband for a divorce before she fled the country, while the husband found himself implicated in a second case. Both have been charged with money laundering and making profits out of prostitution.