Kuwaiti official, expat jailed for seven years in salary fraud case
Country cracks down on public sector corruption with harsh sentences
Dubai: The Criminal Court of Kuwait has handed down a seven-year prison sentence to a government official found guilty of organizing a sophisticated salary fraud scheme.
The official, whose name and position were not disclosed, has also been dismissed from his job following the conviction.
The court established that the official had engaged in a fraudulent practice where he ceased attending his workplace and instead, in a clear breach of trust, paid an Iranian clerk to sign in on his behalf using fingerprint moulds.
This act enabled the official to claim salaries amounting to KD37,000 (Dh440,000) illegally. The Iranian expat clerk was complicit in the scheme, using the provided fingerprint moulds, job file number, and password to falsify the official’s daily attendance records.
The Iranian expatriate has been sentenced to seven years in prison.
Additionally, the pair has been ordered to jointly pay a fine of KD113,000, a figure that more than triples the embezzled amount, as a punitive and deterrent measure.