Verdict against Iran in Bahrain's "largest money laundering" case confirmed
Bahrain's Court of Appeals directly upheld the verdict of the country's Supreme Criminal Court in the "largest money laundering case" in Bahrain's history, which was issued against the Central Bank of Iran and several other Iranian banks.
The official Bahrain News Agency reported on Sunday, November 29, quoting Wael Bu'Alawi, Deputy Attorney General of Bahrain, adding that the appeals court upheld the initial 10-year prison sentence against five officials of Al-Mustaqbal Bank and the sentence of the sixth defendant in the case to five years in prison.
According to this report, the payment of one million Bahraini dinars by the defendants and the payment of the same amount by the Central Bank of Iran and other banks involved in this money laundering, which had been previously issued, were confirmed by the Bahraini Court of Appeal.
This is while the Islamic Republic of Iran has called the $1.3 billion money laundering case "based on political motives and devoid of any legal value."
Earlier, on August 1, after the Bahraini Supreme Court's ruling was issued, Saeed Khatibzadeh, spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, called the money laundering accusation "a lie" and emphasized that "the Islamic Republic strongly rejects the actions attributed to the Central Bank and Iranian banks in Bahrain."
However, Bahrain's Attorney General, Ali bin Fadl al-Buainain, has announced that Bank Melli and Bank Saderat Iran, on the orders of the Central Bank of Iran, used an alternative system that was not authorized by Bahraini authorities to transfer money, and by "maintaining" it, they circumvented international sanctions against the Islamic Republic's nuclear program.
Previously, reports also stated that the Future Bank, which began operations in 2004 with a joint investment from the National Bank of Iran and Saderat, as well as a Bahraini bank, had been attempting to transfer money to Iran and finance several "terrorist entities" including the Revolutionary Guard Corps, Lebanon's Hezbollah, and entities in Iraq, but had failed to do so due to the tight control of the Bahraini authorities over the banks.
Based on the ruling of the Bahraini Supreme Criminal Court, which has now been confirmed by the country's Court of Appeal, an order has been issued to seize the amounts that were to be "laundered." These amounts include: $148 million and 71 thousand, €967 million and 937 thousand, Emirati dirhams 53 million and 350 thousand, and Iranian rials 235 billion and 93 million.
According to the ruling of the Bahraini Supreme Criminal Court, in addition to the conviction of Al-Mustaqbal Bank, six of its officials in Bahrain have also been sentenced to five to ten years in prison.
The investigation into the largest money laundering case in Bahrain's history began in April 2015, when the Central Bank of Bahrain ordered the closure of Al-Mustaqbal Bank and the seizure of all its documents for investigation.
The Bahraini government severed diplomatic relations with the Iranian government on January 8, 2015, one day after Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic relations with Iran.
Bahrain has also repeatedly accused Iran of interfering in its internal affairs, and in recent years Tehran and Manama have clashed bitterly over the rise of Shiite protests in Bahrain, which makes up the majority of the country's population.
Source: Radio Farda
