Bahrain Mirror: The minor criminal court sentenced Ali Al-Binali to 2 years in jail and1,000 BD bail for suspending the execution over charge of forging debt documents for the customers of two stores, and for demanding imaginary amounts from customers for devices they bought from him and already paid for.

The court also handed down 6-month jail term to 4 employees from the 2 stores over charge of forging sales contracts and set 50 BD as bail to suspend the execution.

This came after Ali Al-Binali was sentenced to 3 years in prison and 1,000 BD bail for suspending the execution of the sentence over charges of defrauding a large group of victims, by claiming that they were participating in gold and jewelry investment and deceiving them into signing debt bonds worth 5,000 BD each. The total number of the bonds amounted to 429, with a total value exceeding 2 million BD.

In the new case, several local clients to the two shops owned by the well-known trade unionist submitted notices that they had purchased electronic devices and paid by instalment. However, after years, large sums of debts had been discovered on the same item and they were demanded to pay for it after verdicts had been made against them with imaginary debts. By reviewing the documents submitted to the civil court, they were found to be forged, as the fifth suspect provided such documents to the civil court to obtain funds from the victims.

In the first case, the Anti-Fraud and Economic Crimes Directorate received a communication from a Bahraini stating that she bought a computer from an electronics store in the Al-Adliya, owned by Al-Binali. The computer's price was 700 BD. She agreed with the owner to pay monthly installment of 64 dinars over one year, signed a sales contract that included these details and paid the full amount.

However, after seven years, she was surprised that the owner of the shop had brought a civil lawsuit against her demanding to pay him 1482 dinars, for the same device on the basis of a forged sales contract.

The second victim said that he had bought from Al-Binali's shop two phones with a total value of 500 dinars in the installment system. After finishing his payment, he discovered that his bank accounts were seized. Inquiring about the matter, he knew that a verdict was issued against him binding him to pay 2,700 dinars for the fifth accused for the two phones he had bought.

The third victim stated that he bought a Nokia phone for 60 dinar from Al-Binali's shop. He was surprised after a short period of time by an arrest warrant against him, on the basis of a provision binding him to pay 3,400 dinars for the purchase of two phones. Verdicts against the victims were issued based on these forged contracts and their bank accounts were frozen.

Arabic Version