10 years jail, KD6m fine for expat in funds scam
KUWAIT CITY, April 1: In the case of embezzlement of the overseas medical treatment fund, the Court of Appeals sentenced the first accused - a fugitive Egyptian expatriate who was the director of a travel office - to ten-year imprisonment and imposed a fine of KD six million. It sentenced the second accused - a Kuwaiti official of the Ministry of Health - to seven-year imprisonment. He is currently imprisoned pending the case. The court also fined him KD 300,000 for profiting from facilitating the embezzlement.
The Public Prosecution conducted an investigation into the embezzlement case involving KD 15 million from funds designated for overseas medical treatment. One suspect, an Egyptian expatriate currently residing outside the country, and another, a citizen who has been apprehended, were implicated in the crime. The Ministry of Health, through its representatives who participated in the Public Prosecution’s investigations, affirmed that the Egyptian suspect who works as the director of a travel office created fake invoices related to treating citizens overseas and booking hotels for them, by exploiting the absence of a health office in a European country, and was able to embezzle more than KD 15 million.
❑ ❑ ❑ Terror hearing begins:
The Criminal Court will today ( Tuesday) hear the first session of the trial of three Tunisian expatriates who are accused of belonging to a terrorist organization.
During investigations with the Public Prosecution, the defendants had confessed to belonging to the terrorist organization ISIS and planning to commit terrorist operations in mosques and Husseiniyats. They confirmed that they had drawn up a plan to implement their criminal plan, but their arrest prevented them from carrying out their crimes.
The defendants revealed that after their recruitment, they had been communicating for a long time with ISIS leaders abroad via the Telegram application so that their affairs would not be revealed, and that they were receiving instructions on a daily basis from ISIS leaders.