Abu Dhabi: Kuwaiti prosecutors’ investigation with Bangladeshi MP, Mohammad Shahid Islam, charged with human trafficking, money laundering, and exploiting his compatriot workers, revealed he provided 1.1 million dinars ($3.58 million) by check to an official at the Ministry of Interior, one million dinars ($3.25 million) in cash to another official, in addition to “bags” of millions of dinars in cash to a third official, Kuwaiti media reported.
Al Rai newspaper reported after his detailed confession of providing financial sums to a director in one of the ministries, a civil servant in the Ministry of Interior and another accomplice, the Public Prosecution decided to continue the detention of the Bangladeshi MP and another compatriot on charges of human trafficking and money laundering.
Confessions made
Prosecutors heard testimonies of 12 Bangladeshi workers brought in Kuwait by the accused from Bangladesh for money.
Quoting sources close to prosecution investigation, Al Rai reported that faced with investigations of the detectives, the Bangladeshi MP made confessions against a director in one of the ministries, and said that he was attending at his cleaning company, demanding that all Kuwaiti employees be dismissed before his arrival, so that no one would recognise him.
“The Bangladeshi MP revealed in his confessions the Kuwaiti manager was insisting to receive bribes in cash against attending in person to sign illegal transactions. On several occasions, the Bangladeshi MP asked Kuwaiti employees to leave when the manager, who received more than a bad full of cash, attended in the company,” sources told Al Rai.
The Bangladeshi MP’s confessions also revealed that an official at the Ministry of Interior, was handed a check for one 1.1 million Kuwaiti dinars for processing transactions, and he presented to the Public Prosecution a copy of the check.
The sources said the accused “confessed that he had handed over one million Kuwaiti dinars in cash to an official, in exchange for bringing in a numbers of Bangladeshi workers to Kuwait”.
Al Rai newspapers quoted unidentified sources close to investigations as saying that the information revealed so far was just the “tip of the iceberg”, in the case, which is expected to involve a number of controversial officials.
The Bangladeshi MP reportedly admitted that he had paid huge amounts to a senior official at the Kuwaiti Interior Ministry to facilitate his business there. “The Bangladeshi MP said he met the official once, and then dealings had been finalised through a middleman,” sources told Al Rai.
The prosecution heard testimonies of dozens of Bangladeshis, who confirmed that they had paid amounts of up to 3,000 dinars in return for coming to Kuwait, and that they were also paying annual sums for renewing their residency visas.
Luxury cars
Among the complaints submitted against the suspected Bangladeshi MP is that he is believed to have provided five luxury cars as bribes to government officials in Kuwait, so that he could obtain contracts for the company he runs there.
In February, Islam, an MP from Laxmipur, dismissed as “false and imaginary” allegations that he trafficked people to Kuwait.
Kuwaiti media have also accused him of trading visas and siphoning off money to the US for laundering.
Islam told media outlets in his country he was not even involved in manpower export, let alone human trafficking.
According to Al Qabas, the suspect is a member of a three-man racket whose other members include another Bangladeshi MP, whose wife is also an MP from the seats reserved for women.
It added that the trio occupied sensitive positions in three major companies that brought over 20,000 Bangladeshi workers into the country in exchange for large sums of money believed to be in excess of 50 million dinars ($163 million).
The MP reportedly channelled the money to the US to set up a company in partnership with an American national, according to the report.
He runs the Marafie Kuwaitia Group as managing director and CEO.
The businesses of the company with presence in Kuwait, Oman and Jordan range from waste management, cleaning and janitorial services to security solutions to heavy equipment rental to engineering.
