Kuwait: 2 army officers in corruption probe over jet deal

Cairo: A Kuwaiti state anti-corruption watchdog has referred two senior officers in the Kuwaiti army to public prosecution over suspicions of harming public money in a jet deal struck more than six years.

The Anti-Corruption Authority, dubbed Nazaha, said that investigations and evidence had shown that the two officers - a major-general and a colonel - had committed several irregularities resulting in heavy damage to public funds.

The watchdog added that the two officers had disbursed inflated bills to the manufacturing company exceeding the overall value agreed in the contract.

The disbursement was conducted without prior permission from the competent agencies in the Kuwaiti ministries of defence and finance, it said. The high-profile case is seen among big corruption allegations unveiled in Kuwait in recent years.

In September 2015, Kuwait and Italy signed an 8-billion-euro deal for buying 28 Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft.

Last month, Kuwait took delivery of the first two of the advanced aircraft.