By SOMAN BABY

MANAMA: Bahrain has launched a major crackdown against thousands of “ghost” companies racketeering in work visas.

Two thousand fake Commercial Registrations have been cancelled and a further 5,000 are under investigation, it was revealed yesterday.

All newly recruited Bahrainis must personally register with the Labour Ministry, from March 20, to stop companies faking Bahrainisation levels.

A total of 20,815 companies have already been caught violating Labour Market Regulatory Authority rules and 2,818 of them were construction companies, it was revealed yesterday. Of these 189 establishments have been taken to court and 1,169 work permits have already been cancelled.