Real Estate Scammer Jailed in Bahrain for Apartment Contract Forgery
The Lower Criminal Court handed down a verdict in a forgery case involving a petitioner who attempted to deceive the legal system. The court sentenced the petitioner to a two-year prison term for forging a sales contract relating to an apartment purchase in Juffair.
However, the court allowed the petitioner to post bail in the amount of 500 Bahraini dinars, temporarily suspending the execution of the sentence.
The case unfolded when the victim, a real estate company owner, constructed a stunning residential building in the Juffair area comprising several luxurious apartments. On April 10, 2016, the victim sold multiple units, including one to the petitioner.
The sales contract stipulated that the apartment would be handed over to the petitioner by September 2017.
Unfortunately, due to delays caused by the contractor, the delivery was postponed until February 2019. To the victim’s dismay, the defendant failed to fulfil his financial obligations promptly.
An outstanding balance of 4,000 dinars remained unpaid out of the total apartment value of 57,500 dinars.
Despite numerous attempts to contact the petitioner and request payment, he repeatedly neglected to settle the amount until early 2022.
By the contract’s provisions, which granted the owner the right to cancel the agreement in the event of the buyer’s default, the victim filed a civil lawsuit seeking to dissolve the contract.
Shockingly, during the lawsuit, the petitioner presented a forged contract to the court, which led to the rejection of the dissolution claim.
Therefore, the victim filed another case, accusing the buyer of forgery.
The Public Prosecution launched an investigation into the matter, unearthing startling revelations.
It was discovered that the contract submitted by the petitioner to the civil court was written in Arabic, whereas the original contract had been drafted in English. Furthermore, the defendant’s signatures on all pages of the forged contract had been fabricated and attributed to him.
To make matters worse, the forged contract falsely indicated another company as the selling party, replacing the correct company named in the original contract.
It became evident that the genuine contract had been written in English, and no Arabic version had been created or translated for the petitioner.
The forgery and counterfeiting expert at the Physical Evidence Management Department of the Public Prosecution confirmed the petitioner’s deceitful actions. The expert’s report established that the defendant did not personally write the forged signatures on the sales contract.
Instead, the signatures were manipulated by directly transferring the victim’s authentic signatures from the original contract to the forged one.
Consequently, the Public Prosecution charged the petitioner and an unknown accomplice with forgery of a private document, specifically a sales contract for one of the apartments.
The petitioner employed specific forgery methods defined by the law to fabricate the document with the intention of passing it off as authentic.
Moreover, he audaciously presented the forged document to the civil court, knowingly affirming the accuracy of the information contained within it despite being fully aware of its fraudulent nature.
After a captivating courtroom showdown, the judge delivered the verdict. The petitioner was found guilty on all charges brought against him, resulting in a two-year prison sentence.
The court also granted the petitioner the opportunity to suspend the execution of the sentence by posting bail for 500 dinars.
Additionally, the court ordered the confiscation of the forged documents and referred the related civil lawsuit to the competent civil court without any expenses.
