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A man who allegedly forged the signature of a car owner in order to sell the vehicle without proper authorisation and take the proceedings for himself is standing trial at the High Criminal Court.
The 29-year-old Bahraini garage mechanic from Hamad Town reportedly told the 35-year-old victim, also a Bahraini, that he was going to take the car ‘to do some maintenance work on it;, only to sell it to an unsuspecting individual.
The defendant is facing charges relating to fraud and misleading a public official of the General Directorate of Traffic.
According to court documents, the incident occurred in 2022, when the victim, a labourer from Hamad Town, was overseas and received a call from the defendant about the car.
“The accused told me he wanted to take my car to perform some maintenance work on it and use it for a while,” the victim said in his witness testimony.
“When I returned to the country, however, I was shocked to find out that he actually sold my car to someone else behind my back and without my permission or any form of authorisation.
“I was told that my signature was on the ownership transfer form, but I did not sign anything.”
He filed a report with a nearby police station, and an investigation was launched into the matter. Authorities were able to prove that the accused had forged the victim’s signature and sold the car illegally.
The accused was then identified, arrested and put in provisional detention until the day of the trial.
Another witness, a 72-year-old Bahraini retiree, whose son purchased the car for him, said that he had absolutely no idea that the vehicle was sold to them illegally.
“My son called me up and told me that he had found a car that was on sale,” the man from Isa Town said.
“So he and one more man, who I was told was helping the accused sell the vehicle, met with the 29-year-old to discuss terms of the deal.
“We had never even seen the accused before that moment, but he showed us documents that showed us the car was under his name. So we just came to an agreement and purchased the car from him.”
The retiree’s son, a 26-year-old Bahrain Defence Force worker from Hamad Town, also stated he had no idea what the accused had done, and only came in contact with him because he saw the car was for sale on social media.
“I saw the post online and there was a phone number under it,” he said.
“I called the number, and came in contact with a man who knew the accused and we agreed to meet with him to discuss the sale of the car.
“After we came to an agreement, we went to the General Directorate of Traffic where we transferred the ownership to my father.”
The man who was reportedly helped the accused sell the car, a 50-year-old Bahraini retiree from Karzakan, also stated he had no idea the vehicle had been acquired under fraudulent conditions.
“The accused asked me to help him sell the car because he was having trouble finding buyers,” he said in his witness testimony.
“I helped him by creating a social media post stating that the car was for sale, and when I received a call from the buyers, I helped schedule a meeting between them.”
The case has been adjourned until January 5, 2025.
nader@gdnmedia.bh
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