Kuwaiti employee sentenced to five years in jail for withholding mistakenly transferred funds

Dubai: A Kuwaiti court on Wednesday handed down a five-year prison sentence to a local employee who refused to return a mistakenly transferred end-of-service bonus.

The employee had received 4,300 dinars (approximately $14,000) into his bank account, which was intended for a cooperative society but was erroneously deposited into his account instead.

Get exclusive content with Gulf News WhatsApp channel

In a ruling that also included job termination, the Criminal Court ordered the employee to repay the 4,300 dinars and imposed a fine of double that amount.

While the verdict remains provisional and open to appeal, the specifics regarding the employee’s identity and his reasons for not returning the funds were not disclosed.

The decision has sparked a flurry of mixed reactions on social media platforms in Kuwait.