Sectarian & tribal prison
The Al-Qabas newspaper has revealed in a distinct investigation the circumstances of a prisoner impersonating member of the ruling family, businessman and celebrity to get involved in fraud while serving lengthy prison term. He is also suspected of money laundering, swindling celebrities and exploiting the name of the Amiri Diwan though he is not more than 20 years old.
His story reminded me of the famous American scammer Abagnale played by Leonardo DiCaprio, in the ‘Catch me if you can’ movie directed by Steven Spielberg.
I am not interested in the details of his fraud, perhaps we will know the truth soon, but I am more concerned with the most dangerous aspect of the story of this Kuwaiti scammer. While in prison, he is said to have succeeded in impersonating a prominent ‘sheikh’ from the ruling family. He introduced himself as a businessman and has impersonated other sheikhs.
He managed to get a cell phone with a ‘golden’ number while in prison and made thousands of calls from his ‘banned’ cell phone while in prison and lived a luxurious life behind the walls of his cell.
He ordered food worth hundreds of dinars daily from outside the prison, for him and for others who feel tempted. He was watching TV shows while in prison. He paid subscriptions to sports and other channels from inside the prison.
He chartered a private jet for a businessman from Bahrain to Kuwait while in prison. He had four people who helped him in his operations and transferred money to their accounts, while in prison. He bought expensive watches worth more than 50,000 dinars each and offers them as presents
while in prison.
He received forged checks and documents while in prison. He is known to have earlier impersonated other prominent personalities, and most prison officials know about it, yet he falsified documents in the name of the Diwan while in prison. He issued forged bank guarantees, laundered money, offered bribe and bought people of ill-conscience while in prison.
He formed a wide network of contacts while in prison. After all this, he was accidentally discovered otherwise he would have even succeeded in appointing the prison director. How did all this happen in a country where hundreds of millions are spent on security, with a population of just five million, none of them unemployed or hungry?
The answer is: Corruption. Corruption at the Central Prison has been going on for decades, and all those who have run it, innocent or implicated, have paid the price because customs govern the prison, much stronger than laws and regulations. Therefore, referring the prison director or his assistants or the gatekeepers and porters to the investigation will not be beneficial.
This has happened dozens of times but there has been no improvement in the security situation at the prison. Corruption and smuggling of contraband continues to be smooth.
The issue needs a new approach for remedy. Sectarian and tribal guards should not be there at all so that the prison can be properly managed, by either handing over things ‘temporarily’ to a Western security company specialized in prison management to set the security rules and regulations to be followed accompanied by a list of heavy penalties for those who violate the instructions and not only transfer or fire from the job, as happened several times, because many will welcome it. And those who are relieved of duty will have time to enjoy the fruits of their corruption while they were on the job.