Bahrain: Hall sentenced to 16 months

The former chief executive of Bahrain’s state-owned aluminium producer Alba, Bruce Hall, was sentenced to 16 months in prison on 22 July for conspiracy to corrupt, in relation to contracts for the supply of goods and services to Alba. Hall had pleaded guilty to the charges in June 2012, and agreed to be a witness in the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO)’s main case, against Victor Dahdaleh, the alleged middleman in bribery schemes aimed at securing Alba contracts. The case against Dahdaleh collapsed on 10 December, in part - so the SFO said – because Hall gave an account in court that “differed markedly from the witness statement he had provided to the SFO”.