MoI finance official testifies in ‘hospitality’ case, details fraud, forgery modus operandi

Court adjourns hearing to Sept 15

By Jaber Al-Hamoud

Al-Seyassah Staff

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 9: The Criminal Court presided by Justice Mute’eb Al-Ardi listened to the testimony of head of the finance oversight in the Ministry of Interior Faleh Al-Shimmari who testified in case no. 56/2018 known as “Interior Ministry Hospitality”, which involves some 24 employees and officials of the Ministries of Interior and Finance.

The defendants have been accused of forgery, major negligence, embezzlement of public funds, and money laundering. The court decided to adjourn the case until Sept 15, 2019 to present documents and cheques that are allegedly for the defendants. It also rejected bail request filed by the defense.

In his testimony, Al-Shimmari stated how money was embezzled through forged documents, of which some bore his signature, and how money was disbursed to several entities using some documents that had no signature, affirming the documents would have been rejected if they had passed through actual oversight and auditing procedures.

The court ended its session by listening to requests by the defense team to grant those in jail bail with financial guarantee the court considers suitable, in addition to lifting the travel ban on defendants released on bail. The defense again requested to be allowed to copy the cross examination session of Acting Director General of Public Authority for Manpower Abdullah Al-Mutawteh held a meeting in his office with several officers from various sectors of Ministry of Interior, reports Al-Seyassah daily.

Discussions during the meeting focused on a new development in inspection raids conducted by both sides via their joint committee for following up labor conditions of expatriates and the resultant observations and phenomena.

witnesses, noting the country has set the next session for examining forged documents which were attached to the case file.

New lawsuit

filed:

Attorneys Jalil Al-Tabbakh and Ibrahim AlBahrani filed a new lawsuit against Othman Al-Khamis (media prosecution case number 1555/2019).

The lawsuit is based on a television interview which, according to the plaintiff, offended the Shiite sect.

Al-Khamis was convicted by the Court of Cassation in March 2019 when he was fined KD20,000.

Al-Tabbakh demanded for the harshest penalty to be imposed on Al-Khamis, adding the accusations directed to the latter are dangerous for social security especially in this critical era. He said Al-Khamis aims to instigate disputes in society in favor of an external agenda.

Blogger’s jail upheld:

The Court of Cassation upheld five years imprison term with hard labor slammed on a blogger by the lower court in a state security case in which the defendant was charged for spreading false news and issuing statements considered offensive to the office of HH the Amir.

The Public Prosecution Department charged the defendant for committing cyber crime by posting offensive statements on social networking site “Twitter” with a fictitious name.