Court Acquits Official, Jails Mastermind in BD 74,885 Tax Fraud

Manama: A Bahrain court has found an Asian man guilty of tax fraud involving 32 confirmed and 12 unconfirmed transactions using 27 bank cards, totaling BD 74,885 and 40 fils. He was sentenced to five years in prison and fined him BD 3,000 for carrying out systematic fraudulent operations using stolen or illegitimate bank cards to pay taxes and government bills for several companies. The court also ordered his deportation from the Kingdom of Bahrain after he serves his sentence.

The court also acquitted an administrative official accused of the fraud, citing lack of conclusive evidence. No technical or material evidence linking him to the alleged crimes was found; witnesses, including business partners, confirmed his innocence, stating he was not involved in financial operations or aware of the transactions.

However, the Asian man was found solely responsible for the transactions using bank cards from Canada, the US and Japan to make payments through the National Revenue Authority's electronic platform and a banking company's gateway. The card-owning banks confirmed the cards were stolen or illegitimate, obtaining those from the dark web, resulting in financial damages to the banking company.