5-year jail for man in forgery case

A fugitive Pakistani man, accused of fraud, was sentenced to five years behind bars in absentia yesterday.

The man is accused of deceiving a local bank by claiming that he was the head of the IT department in the Ministry of Education to receive a loan, according to court files.

He is said to have succeeded in getting a loan worth BD17700 and bought a luxury vehicle, which was transported outside Bahrain via the King Fahd Causeway.

The court files revealed that the Pakistani man had initially contacted the bank using a landline in the Ministry of Education, and later submitted fake documents stating that he was an employee in the ministry. His alleged crime was discovered after failing to pay the monthly instalments of the loan, as the bank realised that the defendant had already departed the country.

The crime occurred in 2013, but the High Criminal Court began hearing the case yesterday. The Pakistani man will be tried in absentia, and his whereabouts are still unknown.