The Fifth High Criminal Court of Appeal upheld an eight-year prison sentence against a company owner (the first appellant), along with a fine of BD105,000. The court also ordered him to repay BD6,831,707 and confiscated criminal proceeds amounting to BD6,831,205 from his assets and properties equivalent to the funds involved in the crime. The case involves fraud, forgery, and embezzlement exceeding BD6 million. The main defendant was convicted of money laundering proceeds obtained from fraud and embezzlement from the private sector, in addition to forging private documents and using them. Meanwhile, the court sentenced the second to fourth appellants – the CEO and two board members – to one year in prison, but ordered the sentence to be replaced with community service. The court also rejected an appeal filed by the Public Prosecution seeking to oblige the appellants to jointly repay the value of the last two transactions. The defendants were ordered to pay legal expenses and expert fees amounting to BD812.695, to be shared equally. They were convicted of using funds belonging to investors in the final two transactions for purposes other than those announced by the company. In its ruling, the court stated that the case against the […]