The High Criminal Court has sentenced a 36-year-old accountant to five years imprisonment and a fine of BD 41,770.795. He has also been ordered to repay the same amount to Gulf Air Academy, a subsidiary of Gulf Air Group, following his conviction. As per the case records, the Public Prosecution accused the accountant, who served as a senior accountant and acting head of accounts and finance at the academy, of embezzling BD 54,121 between January 2021 and April 2022. The prosecution alleged that he exploited his position to misappropriate cash payments received from trainees, diverting the funds for his personal use instead of depositing them into the academy’s accounts. The accountant was further accused of manipulating the academy’s electronic information system. He allegedly altered transaction data and dates, falsified bank reconciliations, omitted accurate data, and systematically prepared monthly reconciliation reports to conceal his embezzlement. He also reportedly entered false value-added tax (VAT) entries to cover discrepancies between the academy’s bank records and its electronic system. Testimonies from the academy’s finance and accounts director revealed that since November 11, 2021, the department had consisted of two employees: the defendant and an accounts coordinator. “The coordinator, who was primarily focused on preparing […]