Four to stand trial over KD9.5m money laundering in Kuwait

Cairo: Kuwait’s prosecutors have referred four people to the criminal court on charges of money laundering worth KD9.5 million ($30.8 million), the latest such case reported in the country.

The defendants are charged with selling hotels in the Saudi holy city of Mecca and Jordan to 115 citizens, reported Kuwaiti newspaper Al Rai.

The Kuwaiti Public Prosecution charged the defendants with fraud, deception and money laundering. The court has set the start of their trial for January 9. It was not immediately clear when the case surfaced.

In November, a Kuwaiti court ordered a former government minister be interrogated in connection with property fraud allegations in a different case.

The court accepted a legal complaint filed by a large group of people against the ex-minister accusing him of real estate fraud and money laundering worth KD100 million purportedly swindled out of them for alleged investment in an hotel overlooking the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Al Rai said.

Previously, the public prosecution had put on hold a complaint lodged against the ex-official and other founders of a real estate company that invests outside Kuwait, according to the report. His name was not given.

The complaint was reportedly filed by 160 alleged victims in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

In recent years, Kuwait has stepped up anti-corruption efforts and handed down varying jail sentences to defendants in different cases.

Earlier this month, a Kuwaiti court sentenced seven expatriates to seven years in prison with hard labour each on charges of money laundering, fraud, and embezzlement.

The Court of Cassation, Kuwait’s top appeals tribunal, also ordered the defendants—two Europeans and five Arabs—be deported after serving the term. Two of them are still in Kuwait.

They were found guilty of operating within a fraud ring based in a European country. The ruling is final.