Almost half of registered companies in Bahrain are inactive, a government minister said, adding that several procedures have been introduced to clamp 'non-existent businesses' in co-operation with government bodies and the Central Bank.

Although 120,000 Commercial Registrations are there, only 72,000 are active, Industry and Commerce Minister Dr Hassan Fakhro was quoted as saying in the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication.

"We take a strong stand against violating businesses and have referred owners to the Public Prosecution whenever discovered," said Dr Fakhro.

"But we have to clarify things. We have 120,000 CRs in our database with only 72,000 which are active.

"The only way to discover violators is during annual registration or when the closing financial statement is sought.”

He was responding to accusations by MPs that not enough was being done to penalise "bogus businesses". MP Ahmed Qarrata claimed bogus investment companies were stealing people's money.

"One Bahraini stole more than BD7 million ($18.4 million) from people for a so-called company and now he is living in London," he claimed. – TradeArabia News Service