Official at Kuwait's Public Authority for Manpower jailed over ties with Bangladeshi MP

Kuwait: An official working at the Public Authority for Manpower and a previous parliamentary candidate have been arrested and sentenced to 21 days in prison due to their involvement in the Bangladeshi MP case, according to Al Qabas newspaper.

Their case is still under review by the public prosecutor and they are awaiting trial. The public prosecutor’s office is awaiting financial documents that prove payment was made to the Bangladeshi MP, Mohammad Shahid Islam.

Al Qabas also reported yesterday that Islam claimed he is “clean as those in charge are to blame.”

“I have 9,000 employees in Kuwait and 100% clean bids. No governmental entities have questioned my work in the past, but some officials would not allow my work to go through if I did not pay them. What am I to do in this case?” said Islam.

During the questioning, Islam has maintained his innocence claiming that his services have benefited various governmental entities.

“It would take some time to reveal all parties involved in order to ensure that everybody involved in the case is held accountable,” a source said to Al Qabas.

A prosecution file obtained by Al Qabas detailed that, “the case is huge and contains details about hundreds of workers that have been sold illegal permits and brought to Kuwait.”

The Bangladeshi MP was arrested on June 8 on allegations of human trafficking, money laundering and bribery.

Non permit holders

According to Arab times, there are 100,000 illegal permit holders residing in Kuwait as of April 2020.

At the beginning of April, the Ministry of Interior granted amnesty to illegal permit holders, allowing them to return home without any charges. After the initial amnesty phase that ended on April 30th, there are 90,000 non permit holders in Kuwait, Al Seyassah reported.

The Ministry of Interior announced a three-phase amnesty plan that would address the issue of illegal permit holders. The second-phase is scheduled to commence once life returns to normal, according to a report by Arab Times.