Woman acquitted of embezzling funds from Bahrain fashion store

TDT | Manama                                                   

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

The Lower Criminal Court has acquitted a woman of charges related to embezzlement of funds and equipment from a well-known fashion store in Bahrain. The court found that she was the actual owner of the stores, while the plaintiff was merely a partner.

The alleged victim claimed that the accused had misappropriated goods and revenues from the stores for seven years. However, the court expressed doubts about the incident, stating that the plaintiff failed to prove ownership of the confiscated items or the amount of money allegedly embezzled.

Furthermore, the court noted that the plaintiff also failed to establish ownership of the stolen items in the civil lawsuit. The court questioned why, if the accused was managing the establishment, the plaintiff did not demand the revenues throughout her tenure of over seven years.

Due to these reasons, the court cast doubt on the incident and the ownership claim of the alleged victim, leading to the acquittal of the accused. The plaintiff had filed a lawsuit claiming that he was a partner in a specialised fashion establishment dealing with dress details and that the accused, who is the wife of his partner, managed several branches in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

He alleged that she continued to manage the stores for nearly five years before deciding to replace her and appoint a new manager.

Inventory check

He further claimed that the new manager began an inventory check of the stores, only to discover that the accused had taken goods from the stores and embezzled unspecified amounts of money.

It later became evident to him that the accused had been regularly embezzling the profits of the stores, taking advantage of her authorization to oversee all the outlets. The court reviewed the lawsuit and examined civil judgements that rejected the plaintiff's claims, which also accused the defendant of failing to pay profits and exploiting her authorization to manage the stores by not paying the employees’ salaries.

It was revealed that the lawsuit filed against her was dismissed due to the plaintiff's failure to provide evidence supporting his accusations and the absence of substantiated claims of embezzlement, as he had alleged.