Kuwait probes eight government officials for corruption

Cairo: Eight Kuwaiti government officials were interrogated this year for alleged tampering with public money and profiteering from government tenders, according to a Kuwaiti newspaper.

Travel bans have already been issued against some of those officials, while others will be summoned for investigations in the next few days, Al Qabas reported, citing a source it described as well-informed.

"The accused officials exploited their power in government positions and obtained hundreds of thousands of dinars from public tenders they illegally awarded to certain individuals," the source said.

The suspects include former ministerial undersecretaries, the source added.

Investigation committees at several government institutions, according to the same source, have uncovered an increase in cases involving profiteering, as well as manipulation of state tenders and projects. Some suspects are likely to be charged with money laundering.

"Investigation agencies have recently opened files related to officials' involvement in profiteering, harming public money, embezzlement, and negligence," the source said without providing further details.

There was no immediate government comment on the report.

Earlier this week, a Kuwaiti court sentenced a former government minister to seven years in prison on charges of profiteering from a business contract, harming public funds, and influence peddling.

The court, which handles cases involving government officials, handed down similar sentences to a former ministerial undersecretary and a former head of the Federation of Cooperative Societies in the same case related to awarding a government tender to a company without following legal procedures for personal gain.

Kuwaiti newspaper Al Rai identified the former minister as Mubarak Alarou, who served as minister of social affairs from December 2021 to August 2022.

Last month, a Kuwaiti court sentenced an Egyptian expatriate to 15 years in prison and ordered him to pay a fine of KD1 million after he had been convicted of embezzling funds from the Kuwaiti Teachers' Association, where he had worked as a financial manager.

Also last month, Kuwait's top appeals court upheld jail sentences and dismissal of seven former judges on corruption charges in a case that surfaced around three years ago.

The Court of Cassation affirmed the imprisonment of the former judges for terms ranging from seven to 15 years, dismissed them from their positions, and confiscated cars they had received as bribes in a case linked to an Iranian businessman. The verdicts are final.