The Kuwaiti Criminal Court has sentenced dozens of officials for corruption. Andrew Henderson / The National
The Kuwaiti Criminal Court has sentenced dozens of officials for corruption. Andrew Henderson / The National
The Kuwaiti Criminal Court has sentenced dozens of officials for corruption. Andrew Henderson / The National
The Kuwaiti Criminal Court has sentenced dozens of officials for corruption. Andrew Henderson / The National

Kuwaiti court sentences dozens of officials including sheikh for financial crimes

Officials from the Interior and Finance ministries were sentenced to at least 15 years in prison

Mina Aldroubi
Mina Aldroubi
Abu Dhabi

August 17, 2020

  • English
  • Arabic

A Kuwaiti criminal court sentenced dozens of government officials to prison on charges of seizing public funds late on Sunday.

Brigadier General Adel Al Hashash was given a 30 year sentence and removed from his post, according to a court statement. A member of the royal family was also sentenced to two years in prison.

Twenty-four officials from the interior and finance ministries were charged for fraud, gross negligence, money laundering and appropriation of public funds.

The court ordered the men to return a total of 120 million dinars ($392 million) that was taken from the state.

Funds and commission given to Gen Al Hashash were confiscated also.

The case against Gen Al Hashash stipulated that he used his roles as director of the public relations department and spokesman of the Kuwaiti Ministry of Interior to embezzle funds under the pretext of spending on conferences and delegations.

The Public Prosecution Office was able to seize Gen Al Hashash's real estate assets valued around 35 million dinars ($113 million) out of the tens of millions that were seized from public funds.
The charge against Gen Al Hashash was issued after a Public Prosecution's pleading said "rampant corruption is draining Kuwait's national economy."

The court said Gen Al Hashash's case was linked to "forgery, money laundering and embezzlement."

Among the officials charged with money laundering was Walid Al Sanea and Abdullah Al Hammadi.

They were both sentenced to 17 years in prison for obtaining funds seized by the state for criminal activities.

If you go

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What is the definition of an SME?

SMEs in the UAE are defined by the number of employees, annual turnover and sector. For example, a “small company” in the services industry has six to 50 employees with a turnover of more than Dh2 million up to Dh20m, while in the manufacturing industry the requirements are 10 to 100 employees with a turnover of more than Dh3m up to Dh50m, according to Dubai SME, an agency of the Department of Economic Development.

A “medium-sized company” can either have staff of 51 to 200 employees or 101 to 250 employees, and a turnover less than or equal to Dh200m or Dh250m, again depending on whether the business is in the trading, manufacturing or services sectors. 

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