Two held for taking money from Qatari to influence parliamentary work

Manama, Oct. 24 (BNA): Advocate General Dr. Ahmed Al Hammadi said the Public Prosecution has launched an investigation into a notification by the Criminal Investigation Directorate (CID) about two Bahraini nationals who received money from abroad without authorisation from the competent authority, in breach of the law. The two nationals received money from former Qatari minister Abdullah bin Khalid Al Thani through their bank accounts or by occasionally going to Qatar to receive the money in cash. Investigations showed that one of the two nationals received from the Qatari former minister sums of money to run for the parliamentary elections next month and to support his electoral campaign. Intensive investigation into the suspects' relation with the Qatari official, the purpose of receiving money from him and the motive behind funding the electoral campaign of one of the suspects revealed that the aim was to undermine the national interests by interfering in the internal affairs of the kingdom and influencing the work of the legislative institutions to serve the Qatari antagonistic goals. As a matter of fact, a judicial permission was issued to control and record telephone calls between the suspects which confirmed the investigations. In line with an order by the Public Prosecution, the two suspects were arrested at Bahrain International Airport upon return from Qatar with more than BD 12,000 and 500 Qatari Riyals in their possession without declaring them at the Customs Department. The Public Prosecution ordered to hold them in custody pending investigation after charging them with exchanging intelligence information with someone working for a foreign country to harm national interests. The suspects were also accused of illegally receiving money without declaring it at the Customs Department. The Public Prosecution also ordered the confiscation of the money and the investigation of the number of people implicated in the case.