Appeals court jails man after being acquitted from embezzlement charges

TDT | Manama

After previously being acquitted from charges of embezzlement, a Health Ministry employee was convicted yesterday by the Supreme Criminal Court of Appeal The court found him guilty of the charges after the Public Prosecution appealed against the decision to acquit him.

The man was facing trial for the charges of embezzling more than BD27,000 throughout two years of his service at the ministry. The details of the case showed that, from July 2016 to April 2018, the Appointments Coordination Clerk stole BD27,415 that was found in his possession.

When arrested, he claimed that he kept the amount with him due to the unavailability of a proper mechanism in the ministry and alleged that he was “afraid that the money would be stolen”.

Despite being in his position for over two decades, the employee told the interrogators that he kept the money, which was part of the revenues of Salmaniya Medical Complex, so it won’t be stolen and claimed that he wasn’t aware of the concerned department collecting it from him.

He was acquitted of the charges by the High Criminal Court earlier this year. However, the Public Prosecution, which interrogated the man, heard witness testimonies and inspected the evidence, and thus appealed against the decision to acquit the defendant.

The Supreme Criminal Court of Appeal announced its decision after reviewing the case. The Court sentenced the man to one-year imprisonment and fined him BD27,425 (the embezzled amount and attorney fees).