Bahrain Mirror: The Bahraini judiciary issued on Sunday a new ruling in the case of money-laundering which the "Future Bank, a number of Iranian banks and the Central Bank of Iran are accused with.

According to Bahrain News Agency (BNA), the court accepted the appeal lodged by the Public Prosecution in relation to the confiscation, and amended the confiscation amount imposed against the defendants (natural and legal persons) to $21,500,000 of their funds and properties, while upholding the remaining aspects of the appealed verdict.

On October 28, the High Criminal Court sentenced Future Bank officials to five years in prison and to BD 1 million fine each, and ordered the confiscation of $3 million in funds and property.

The court also fined the legal persons BD 1 million each and ordered the confiscation of $3 million in funds and property.

However, the public prosecution appealed the verdict due to an error in applying the law regarding setting the amount of confiscations at $3 million.

Evidence documents showed that the amount subject of the crime was $ 21,500,00, which the verdict should rule for its confiscation or the confiscation of its value in the funds and properties belonging to the defendants.

Investigations show that the Future Bank, which operated under the Bank Melli Iran and Bank Saderat Iran, facilitated thousands of international transactions while providing cover to the implicated Iranian entities through the deliberate concealment and removal of basic information when transferring funds through the SWIFT network.

Arabic Version