Future Bank officials sentenced to five years in jail, fined BD100,000 each

TDT | Manama

Chief Prosecutor Mohammed Jamal Sultan said the High Criminal Court issued yesterday its verdict in five money laundering cases, in which three officials from Future Bank and three Iranian banks were implicated.

The court held the suspects guilty and sentenced the Future Bank officials to five years in jail and fined each one of them BD100,000. It also fined the implicated banks the same amount and ordered the confiscation of the remitted money, the subject of the crime.

The Public Prosecution revealed previously that its investigation had uncovered a plan that permitted Iranian entities, including those implicated in funding terrorism or which are under international sanctions, to carry out international transactions while avoiding organisational auditing.

It has been found out that Future Bank, which is operating under the supervision of Bank Melli Iran and the Export Development Bank of Iran, has carried out thousands of international financial transactions while providing covers for the Iranian entities there through deliberate concealment or removal of basic information while remitting money via the SWIFT network.

The Public Prosecution referred the Future Bank officials and the other implicated banks to the High Criminal Court for trial as per the anti-money laundering and combating funding terrorism law. The court heard the case because of the breach of the Kingdom’s banking laws and regulations.

The Public Prosecution is completing its investigation into the execution of a number of international transactions by Future Bank and the Iranian banks for the same purpose, while infringing the anti-money laundering and combating the funding of terrorism law, as well as the banking regulations in the Kingdom of Bahrain, in preparation for the referral of those cases to the Criminal Court.