Manama: A Syrian national who acquired the Kuwaiti citizenship fraudulently was arrested after his wife reported him to the authorities in Kuwait.
The suspect was granted the citizenship 22 years ago and was recruited in the public sector as a Kuwaiti. He later got married and the couple has children.
However, his wife in a fit of anger last week informed the authorities that her husband was in fact a Syrian national who forged documents to acquire the Kuwaiti citizenship, resulting in his arrest.
The investigation included a DNA test that confirmed that the suspect was not a Kuwaiti and that he had entered the northern Arabian Gulf state with a Syrian passport. His fingerprints were not taken when he entered the country, Kuwaiti daily Al Qabas reported on Tuesday.
In her report, the wife told the police that her husband had lied to her when he proposed, claiming that he was a member of a well-known tribe.
However, when she discovered the truth about his identity, she opted to keep it secret until he started denigrating Kuwaitis.
The wife added that she could no longer restrain herself and decided to report him to the authorities.
She reportedly said that she did not mind her children would also lose their status as Kuwaiti nationals as per the rules governing the revocation of forged citizenships.
Under the Kuwaiti law, the granted nationality is revoked if the applicant provided false information or presented fake certificates during the application process.
The revocation is ordered by the cabinet based on a request from the interior minister.
Around 30 people with links to the Syrian suspect are likely to be investigated in the case, the daily said.
Last year, a Kuwaiti court sentenced a Syrian to 15 years in jail for getting the Kuwaiti citizenship fraudulently and benefiting from its advantages.
The Criminal Court also imposed a fine equal to the salaries the defendant received as a serviceman with the border guards and ordered his deportation following the jail term.
A Kuwaiti national who helped him in getting the citizenship by forging documents was sentenced in absentia to five years in jail for “selling the Kuwaiti nationality to a Syrian expatriate”.
In June last year, two Syrian brothers admitted that they acquired Kuwaiti citizenship in 1970 through separate agreements with a Kuwaiti man who forged documents to add them as members of his family.
In a typical case, a Kuwaiti man is given money to forge documents and claim that the beneficiary is his own son. Once the document is accepted by the authorities, the beneficiary is able to obtain a birth certificate and subsequently a Kuwaiti citizenship certificate, a national identity card and a passport.
Kuwait has been engaged in a massive operation to unearth cases of forgery and false information that enabled several foreigners, with the complicity of Kuwaitis, to acquire the Kuwaiti citizenship.
Despite the formidable challenges in dealing with the highly sensitive and intricately complex naturalisation issue, Kuwait has been able to score some successes.
