Cairo: A Kuwaiti criminal court has temporarily released 20 citizens pending their trial on charges of illegally seizing state money for fake jobs, a local newspaper has reported.
Their release comes after the suspects were ordered to return all the salaries they had unlawfully obtained, Al Qabas said.
They were put on trial after police investigations revealed they were registered on state support payrolls although they did not do real jobs in violation of the Kuwaiti law.
“The court is still hearing the case before issuing a ruling, "Al Qabas quoted as saying what it described as a well-informed source.
Earlier this month, a Kuwaiti official disclosed that the country’s labour authorities are preparing a “large-scale” campaign aimed to expose attempts to provide “bogus employment” to Kuwaitis as the country is making efforts to generate jobs to its citizens.
The campaign by the Public Authority of Manpower (PAM) will inspect private sector businesses to ensure complying with rules on employment of national labour, according to Abdullah Al Mutoutah, the government agency’s deputy head.
“PAM is currently working on compiling lists of the names of citizens registered in these companies in different sectors such as those of cooperatives, private schools and hospitals,” he told Al Jarida newspaper.
He vowed a “firm stance” against employers and employees involved in phony hiring.
He also cited a plan providing equal perks to Kuwaitis working in private and public sectors with the aim of encouraging citizens to work in the private sector to boost replacement of foreigners with Kuwaitis, a policy known as Kuwaitisation.
Foreigners make up nearly 3.4 million of Kuwait's total population of 4.6 million.
