Witnesses’ court testimonies awaited for Bahraini sailors’ forgery case

TDT | Manama

Witnesses are expected to take the stand before the First High Criminal Court on July 26 to share their statements in a forgery case involving several Bahraini sailors. The three defendants in the case are accused of counterfeiting official documents and submitting them to the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA), in order to issue additional work permits for expat fishermen.

The first defendant was caught when an employee at the Agriculture and Marine Resources at the Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning discovered that the defendant had forged his signature in an application form submitted to LMRA.

The matter came to light when LMRA provided the employee at the ministry with a copy of the application submitted by the defendant, who was applying for the issuance of three work permits for foreign fishermen. The second and third defendants were detected while submitting similar applications to LMRA to issue three fishermen work permits.

The employee at the Agriculture and Marine Resources notified the Public Prosecution, which launched a probe into the matter and heard the statements of all the individuals involved in the case, including the LMRA officials.

The prosecution charged the defendants with forging official documents that are attributed to the Agriculture and Marine Resources, and entering false information into the electronic system of an official body, LMRA. They recently stood trial before the First High Criminal Court, which adjourned the hearing to July 26 later this month.