Kuwait uncovers decades-old citizenship fraud after inheritance dispute

Dubai: A decades-old case of citizenship fraud has come to light in Kuwait after a family inheritance dispute revealed that a man, long believed to be the son of a deceased Kuwaiti citizen, was not biologically related to the family, local media reported.

The man, an Iranian national who had assumed a Kuwaiti identity in 1986, was sentenced to seven years in prison for forgery and fraud, according to court documents. He had already fled the country to Iran by the time the verdict was issued, and the sentence was handed down in absentia.

The deception was uncovered following the death of the Kuwaiti father, when a dispute arose among his children over inheritance rights. Doubts surfaced regarding one of the heirs, who had been listed as the man's son for nearly four decades. The family filed a formal complaint, prompting prosecutors to order DNA testing, which ultimately confirmed the absence of any paternal link.

According to investigators, the fraud began when an Iranian woman, after divorcing her first husband, married a Kuwaiti man. With his cooperation, she added her son from her previous marriage to his citizenship file, falsely registering the boy, who was born in Iran, as his biological son.

The fraudulent entry allowed the boy to access Kuwaiti citizenship and its associated benefits, including state education and employment. He would later go on to become a commercial pilot under his assumed identity.

Authorities said the man knowingly renewed his passport and civil ID multiple times using falsified information. Investigators also discovered significant irregularities in his official records, including multiple family affiliations, further raising concerns about systemic loopholes.

The case has renewed public debate over identity fraud in Kuwait, a country where citizenship confers not only national identity but access to a wide array of state-subsidised services. Officials say the case highlights the government’s ongoing campaign to uncover and prosecute fraudulent claims to citizenship, particularly those involving forged familial ties.

Legal proceedings are ongoing to determine how the fraud remained undetected for so long, and whether any officials may have aided or overlooked the deception. Thousands of Kuwaitis have been stripped off their nationality since September 2024 as part of a wide-ranging administrative review conducted by the government to ensure compliance with national citizenship laws and legal residency regulations. The move, overseen by a Supreme Committee chaired by the Ministry of Interior, aims to address cases involving irregular naturalization, dual nationality violations, and instances of citizenship obtained through fraud or inaccurate documentation.