Bahrain keen to bring home Flaifil

Bahraini authorities are determined to bring home a fugitive former intelligence officer who fled the country five months ago while being investigated over charges of extortion worth millions of dinars, a senior Interior Ministry official said yesterday.

Five victims of Colonel Adel Flaifil, earlier with the Security Intelligence Service, yesterday met Sheikh Duaij bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, head of the committee investigating the case. They later told Gulf News that they hope the ministry will be able to help them.

The five, along with four others, accuse Flaifil of forcing them, while he was a senior security officer, into handing him around 24 million dinars ($115 million) and using the money to buy expensive properties in Australia, where he has been living since he fled Bahrain on May 3.

"We have finished the investigation with the victims and need to start the investigation with Flaifil. In order to do so, he needs to be in Bahrain," Sheikh Duaij said.

He confirmed that authorities in Bahrain are working "hand-in-hand" with the Australian authorities to bring Flaifil back. "We need to hear both sides in order to continue this case," he said.

A call went out to the Australian authorities by the victims to hand over Flaifil, one of his victims said.

"We need to sort out our lives. He is in Australia having the time of his life, buying land and making money while we are here in Bahrain trying to make a sense out of this," Nader Burdistani said.

"The Australians should realise that he is a thief and a criminal. He should be brought to justice here."

In addition to his financial troubles, Flaifil's problems are compounded by charges of torturing political detainees. He, however, continues to deny these charges.

Flaifil, who is residing now in Brisbane, Australia, has paid up to $100 million for four inner-city Brisbane buildings and coastal Queensland development sites.

He is wanted in Bahrain for "unlawfully obtaining a document by force, unlawfully obtaining property by fraudulent means and issuing cheques without sufficient funds," Sheikh Duaij said.