MOICT Bahrain to take strict action against forgery

Manama : The Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and Tourism (MOICT) will take strict action against business entities indulging in forgery after it detected the forged picture of a signboard submitted to its Supervision Department through Sijilat website. 

The forgery was detected when a businessman applied to rectify an address violation through the Sijilat system. He submitted fake pictures of a signboard to rectify the violation while electronically paying the fine for violation.

Experts at the Companies Supervision Department in the MOICT, who are tasked to authenticate the electronic applications, doubted the man’s application and assigned field inspectors to visit the location and confirm whether the violation is rectified.

“The man faked the pictures using photoshop image editing software and submitted them online through the Ministry’s Sijilat electronic system. When the inspectors visited the location of the shop, they discovered that the pictures submitted did not match the reality,” the Ministry said in a statement issued here yesterday.

The establishment will face legal action for forging formal documents using “photoshop” image editing software, the MOICT said.

The MOICT also said that it has taken administrative and legal procedures and referred the matter to the Public Prosecution, accusing the man of counterfeiting and submission of forged documents.

“The Ministry confirms that it is continually auditing the documents submitted through the Sijilat system and that it will not hesitate to take legal action against anyone who proves the submission of forged documents to the ministry,” the Ministry added.

The Ministry periodically refers violators to the judiciary.Seven establishments were prosecuted in July for similar reasons.