Abu Dhabi: Kuwaiti Public Prosecution’s investigation into paperwork pertaining to labourers, signed and issued by the Assistant Under-Secretary of Kuwait’s Ministry of Interior, Major General Sheikh Mazen Al Jarrah, showed that 5,000 Pakistanis entered the country after paying bribes, Kuwaiti media reported.
Kuwait has annulled all these paperwork to revise all transactions between 2014 to 2018, regarding citizenship and passports, as Al Jarrah was overseeing the department during that period.
Al Jarrah allegedly signed off on paperwork allowing thousands of Bangladeshis to obtain work permits, in connection with the Bangladeshi MP Mohammed Shahid Islam’s illegal dealings in Kuwait.
The Ministry of Interior is reviewing all paperwork with Al Jarrah’s signature to determine which transactions were connected to Islam.
A source told Al Qabas that Al Jarrah also signed off on paperwork allowing 1,000 Iraqis and hundreds of Syrians to enter the country on visit visas, despite the fact that Iraqi and Syrians were barred from entering Kuwait.
Al Jarrah and Islam are being held in Kuwait’s central prison on three charges: human trafficking, money laundering and bribery.
Kuwaiti authorities have frozen Islam’s bank accounts and companies to ensure that the money is not moved around beyond the jurisdiction of Kuwaiti courts.
The Bangladeshi MP is the managing director and CEO of Marafie Kuwaitia Group, a security and labour contracting company. In addition, Islam has three other companies in Kuwait, all of which are cleaning and contracting companies.
Islam had an annual net profit of around two million Kuwaiti dinars after all the bribes and money he spent on gifts in exchange for facilitating transactions and paperwork to bring in workers from Bangladesh. There are 350,000 Bangladeshis residing in Kuwait, according to the embassy of Bangladesh.
According to Al Qabas, Bangladesh was allegedly prompted to call back its ambassador to Kuwait SM Abul Kalam before the end of his term of office, because of his purported involvement in Islam’s illegal transactions.
