Manama: The money-laundering scheme busted by Manama on Friday is not confined to Bahrain, but also includes other countries in the Gulf, according to a Kuwaiti newspaper.
"Kuwait is one of the countries covered by the network of those involved in the operation and already one Kuwaiti woman has been interrogated about her role in laundering money," Al Watan reported on Monday.
According to the paper, the money-laundering operations were for the benefit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards who are using new channels to launder money following international sanctions on their assets.
"Iran has a two-fold strategy in the region: Getting closer to decision-makers and using local merchants keen on swift lucrative deals," the paper said.
"As Kuwait is a fertile ground for both components of the strategy, it is expected that many Kuwaiti merchants and business people are involved in money-laundering operations. One woman has already been questioned on the issue," according to the report.
Al Watan said that the name of the 45-year Kuwaiti woman was mentioned in the Bahraini investigations of the money-laundering case in which Minister of State Mansoor Bin Rajab and the head of his office are allegedly involved.
"The Bahraini security forces alerted their Kuwaiti counterpart who summoned the woman and confronted her with a cheque that a Bahraini suspect said belonged to her," Al Watan said. "However, the woman denied having any role in the scheme or knowing anything about the multi-million dinar cheque. She said that she had met the Bahraini man at a café and exchanged phone numbers with him as friends."
The newspaper on Sunday reported that the money-laundering scheme included funneling money from the sale of narcotics from Columbia, Azerbaijan and Eastern China through the Bahraini minister to Iran's Revolutionary Guard.
In Manama, the non-participation of Bin Rajab in the weekly cabinet session on Sunday reinforced the growing accusations of his involvement in the scheme despite his confident assurances on Friday to visitors to his majlis (open house) that he was innocent.
Reports said that he would be summoned for a second interrogation next week after the investigators go through the contents of the computers seized in his main office and other buildings.
Several other people would be summoned by the public prosecutor as part of the investigation, the reports said.
An interior ministry statement on Friday said that the competent security authorities have been monitoring the money-laundering scheme since early 2009.
Bin Rajab, 55, is a former member of the Shura Council (upper chamber) and the minister of agriculture and municipalities from 2006 until 2008. He was later named minister of state.
He is the first minister in the Gulf to be interrogated while on duty. News of his detention and alleged involvement in money-laundering have stunned Bahrainis and dominated online forums.
