Arab national steals BD500 from friend’s account, gets three years in jail

TDT | Manama

The Fourth High Criminal Court recently sentenced an Arab man to three years in jail and ordered to deport and blacklist him from re-entering the Kingdom, after finding him guilty of fraud, theft and embezzlement.

According to court files, the case occurred last November when the 36-year-old defendant used the ATM card of the plaintiff, a Gulf national and a friend, to withdraw BD500 without the latter’s consent or knowledge.

The plaintiff mentioned in his statements that he had met the defendant at a shisha café, and there, the plaintiff apparently burnt one of the chairs by mistake after dropping flaming charcoals on it.

The Gulf national gave the defendant his card to pay BD30 to the coffee shop in compensation for the damages he caused. The defendant confessed in the interrogation that he didn’t return the card to the plaintiff and withdrew BD500 from a nearby ATM without informing him.

The plaintiff, who was apparently under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident, received a message from the bank informing him about the withdrawal. According to both men’s statements, the plaintiff contacted the defendant and asked him to return the money and the card, but the latter informed him that he had spent the entire amount at a night club.

“One hour later, I received a call from the owner of the card asking me to return the amount that I had withdrawn from his card, as well as the card,” the defendant told judges, adding, “But I had spent all the amount at the night club and that is all that happened. I am ready to repay the amount to him.”