The Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) declared the issuance of judicial convictions against 20 defendants in cases related to the issuance of work permits for expatriate workers without need for them and trading in work permits.
The total fines amounted to BHD 441,000, while the investigation is still ongoing across a range of other cases based on the Authority’s commitment to implement the directives of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, to address illegal practices that would affect the competitiveness, fairness, and flexibility of the Bahrain labour market.
The LMRA confirmed that these convictions were achieved by the efforts of the concerned parties in the Authority, in cooperation with the relevant government agencies in the Ministry of Interior and the General Directorate of Investigations and Criminal Evidence, in addition to the Public Prosecution and the judiciary.
LMRA Chief Executive Officer Nouf Abdulrahman Jamsheer, stressed the importance of interdepartmental cooperation with various government agencies to address such practices, which have repercussions on the individual and society; and to reinforce strict regulations in authorizing the issuance of commercial registrations in the name of quick profits, which will later reflect negatively on the business owners and ultimately on the Bahraini society.
She stated that LMRA is diligent in exerting continuous efforts to implement the direction of The Prime Minister’s court to reinforce a vibrant work environment and negate all illegal practices that negatively impact the competitiveness and fairness of the Bahraini labour market, stressing that safeguarding an organized and stable labour market is a principle priority at LMRA.
She indicated that the Authority referred 441 cases to the Public Prosecution related to violations of the provisions of Law No.(19) of 2006 on the organization of the labor market, in particular the provisions of Article (23), paragraph (c), as amended by Law No. (40) of 2014, which stipulates that “an employer is prohibited from submitting data, information or documents contrary to the truth in order to obtain a work permit without an actual need for it, and he is prohibited from retaining a work permit whenever they cease the need for it”.
Her Excellency specified that cases were referred to judiciary by the Public Prosecution after they completed their investigation and ruled to indite the defendants for the retention of 321 expatriate work permits without necessity or cause.
The defendants were sentenced with fines summing up to BHD 441,000, in one of the largest conviction in the Kingdom of Bahrain of this nature. Other cases of this kind are still pending with the concerned courts.
The Deputy Chief of the Legal Control Sector, Dr Khalid Abdulrahman, stressed that the Authority is continuously working to improve the efficiency and skills of the inspection sector’semployees, including developing their capabilities in the field of data analysis and reporting and closely monitoring the activity of establishments to gauge the requirements for their acquired work permits.
He also called on all citizens to be wary of such practices, stressing that some may believe that it will make a quick profit, but developments in this area may cause heavy losses, in addition to the negatively affecting society as a whole.
In the same context, the LMRA Chief stressed that the responsibility to combat work permit dealers and combat informal labor requires the cooperation of all concerned agencies, and that LMRA would not be able to achieve such successes without the assistance of the community and their awareness on the severity of consequences caused by fraudulently obtaining work permits.