Kuwait: 6 remanded as inquiry into raffle fraud expands

Cairo: Kuwait’s prosecutors have ordered the remand of a Kuwaiti citizen and five expatriates suspected of involvement in a snowballing raffle draw fraud that has rocked the country.

The case erupted in public earlier this week after a video circulated on social media showing a person fraudulently acting during the draw.

The Interior Ministry identified the person in the footage as a Kuwaiti citizen acting as the head of the draws department at the Ministry of Commerce.

Investigations found out that he had exploited his position to systematically manipulate draws for prizes offered by companies, thus ensuring they will go to specific persons in exchange for financial benefits.

The Kuwaiti public prosecution said intensive investigations revealed that the six had been involved in “serious crimes” including forging official documents, bribery, facilitating the seizure of state funds and money laundering causing “significant harm” to the country’s national interests.

The prosecution added that it has issued several arrest and search warrants for six suspects and three international arrest warrants for other suspects who had fled the country.

“Their names have been circulated on international wanted lists for prosecution and extradition to the State of Kuwait for further investigation,” it said in a statement.

Searching the suspects’ residences yielded a cache of valuables, including gold bracelets and necklaces, watches, luxury pens, and cash suspected of being linked to the fraud at the centre of the inquiry, according to prosecutors.

Additionally, documents, laptops, and mobile phones were seized, containing conclusive evidence of manipulation and forgery related to the raffle draws.

To ascertain seamless control of the evidence in the case, the public prosecution ordered a freeze of the suspects’ deposits in local and international banks, inquire about their accounts and financial transfers, and request forex companies to provide detailed statements of their financial transactions.

“This huge case, which has shaken the country, has exposed a complex criminal network that attempted to exploit loopholes to make illicit gains at the expense of state funds and national economic interests,” it added in a statement.

Suspicions are rife that raffle draws linked to a famous annual shopping festival in Kuwait were manipulated with an Egyptian expat woman accused of winning several classy cars under suspicious circumstances.

She and her husband were detained before they could leave Kuwait. A Ministry of Commerce employee was arrested too.

The employee is accused of having surreptitiously taken the winning coupon from his sleeve during a raffle for a Cadillac on a TV show as part of the Ya Hala Shopping Festival.

Authorities suspect the fraud ring to be more extensive than initially thought, involving individuals of several nationalities, including Egyptians, Indians, Asians, and Kuwaiti citizens.