A CLEARING agent who forged a previous client’s signature to illegally acquire a visa was jailed for three years yesterday.

The High Criminal Court convicted the 45-year-old Bahraini man of fraud and forgery.

He was hired by a 35-year-old Bahraini businessman to submit employment forms to the General Directorate for Nationality, Passport and Residence (GDNPR) for a Filipina housemaid, in 2006.

But when the businessman visited the GDNPR a year later, to submit another employment form for a second housemaid, he was informed that he was the sponsor of a Bangladeshi driver.

The defendant denied forging the businessman’s signature on the application form to bring in the driver.