Bahrain court drops embezzlement charge against exchange company employee

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

The High Criminal Court of Appeal acquitted an exchange company employee of embezzlement of funds, in a case where eight employees were convicted of stealing BD346.

Lawyer Zuhair Abdul Latif, who represents the only defendant found not guilty, stated that the incident occurred between 2018 and 2019, and that the first defendant used his position to steal the money.

“He supplied the remaining defendants with customer information for transferring sums to India without the customers attending the exchange. They would add a letter, number or symbol to the name of the beneficiary to avoid name repetition which alerts the money laundering control system,” the lawyer explained.

“Then the first defendant approved the transfers from the account of the aggrieved company, embezzling these funds instead of depositing them to the company.”

Lawyer Zuhair stated that the third defendant was tasked with falsifying financial reports in order to conceal a budget shortfall while the remaining defendants put the data into the company system. However, regarding the Public Prosecution referring to his client among the accused, he argued that the elements of criminal contribution were missing by way of agreement and assistance, indicating the lack of connection between his client and the main defendant in the case.

He noted the accounting report that suggests the unlikelihood of his client having any role in the embezzlement. The court declared the case papers to be absent of certain evidence to confirm the guilt of the second defendant of the accusation attributed to him, excluding for hearsay.

There is no material evidence which proves the second defendant’s involvement, thus his innocence was ruled.