November 27, 2020
A Bahraini court has convicted Iranian banks, including the Central Bank of Iran, for money laundering in Bahrain.
Morteza Etebari, head of the Central Bank of Iran’s legal affairs department, said the Bahraini court decision was “politically motivated” and “lacks judicial validity.”
The high criminal court in the island kingdom sentenced three officials of the Iran-owned Future Bank of financial crimes and money laundering and sentenced them to five years in jail and fines of one million dinars ($2.7 million) each.
The court also fined the Central Bank of Iran and other Iran-owned banks, including Future Bank, one million dinars each and ordered confiscation of the funds that the banks wanted to transfer illegally.
Bahraini Advocate General Nayef Yousef Mahmoud, head of the Financial Crimes and Money Laundering Prosecution, said the total fines in seven cases reviewed by the court reached 49 million dinars ($130 million) while the confiscated funds amounted to $173 million.
Bahrain’s public prosecution office earlier said its investigations had revealed Iran’s Central Bank planned to launder billions of dollars through Future Bank.