7 expats sentenced to jail for fraud, money laundering in Kuwait

Cairo: In a final verdict, a Kuwaiti court sentenced seven expatriates to seven years in prison each on charges of money laundering, fraud, and embezzlement — the latest such case uncovered in the country.

The Court of Cassation, Kuwait's highest appeals tribunal, also ordered the defendants — two Europeans and five Arabs — to be deported after serving their sentences. According to the news website Almajilis, two of the defendants are currently in Kuwait.

The defendants were found guilty of participating in a Europe-based fraud ring. The case came to light after a Kuwaiti citizen filed a legal complaint alleging he was defrauded of KD157,000 ($509,830) when two of the defendants tricked him by phone into making financial transactions via electronic platforms.

Intensifying anti-corruption efforts

In recent years, Kuwait has intensified its anti-corruption efforts, resulting in various jail sentences for those implicated in fraudulent schemes.

Last month, a Kuwaiti court sentenced a lawyer to 10 years in prison for real estate fraud and money laundering. The court upheld the earlier ruling, issued in absentia, and ordered the lawyer to pay a fine of KD1 million and return KD2 million to victims. The lawyer, convicted of defrauding Kuwaitis through fake projects, was extradited to Kuwait via Interpol for selling non-existent apartments in the country.

In November, a Kuwaiti court ordered the interrogation of a former government minister in connection with property fraud allegations. A group of complainants accused the ex-minister of fraud and laundering KD100 million, purportedly collected for investment in a hotel near the Holy Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

The public prosecution had earlier paused a complaint filed by 160 alleged victims from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia against the former minister and other founders of a real estate company investing abroad. The minister's name was not disclosed.