Kuwait hands life sentences, fines seven over multi-million dinar public fund fraud

A Kuwaiti criminal court sentenced seven defendants, including Kuwaiti nationals and two Americans, to life imprisonment in a case involving the misappropriation of funds from an investment fund linked to state entities.

The court also imposed fines totalling KD98 million and ordered the defendants to repay KD49 million, local media reported. They were convicted of embezzling funds from the state investment fund, in which the Public Institution for Social Security and Kuwait Ports Authority owned stakes.

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Prosecutors said the defendants, including the manager of the Ports Fund, deliberately harmed public funds through fictitious transactions and fabricated arbitration cases filed in Dubai, the US and the Cayman Islands.

The scheme allegedly involved sham lawsuits filed at the Dubai International Financial Centre courts, based on a 2016 investment management agreement, to claim funds, fees and interest without legal basis.

The case was triggered by a complaint filed by lawyer Abdullah Al Kandari, who uncovered alleged fictitious lawsuits and suspicious financial movements linked to the fund’s management, prompting authorities to launch extensive investigations that led to the referral of the defendants to the criminal court.