KUWAIT CITY, June 5: The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has issued a decree banning for an indefinite period 15 real estate companies from participating in real estate exhibitions inside Kuwait.The ministry has also referred the files of these companies to the Money Laundering and Commercial Control department.The department will scrutinize the documents of these companies to determine their financial status and run a check on the movement of funds in local banks and remittances during the past period. It has been reported a majority of the suspended companies are not real estate developers and do not have real assets. They depend on the system of distribution of returns and profits under the ‘umbrella’ of real estate market.In the same context, the ministry held a meeting with a number of representatives of the suspended companies over the past week and reached an amicable solution with some of them to settle the issue with investors after agreeing to pay part of the paid-up capital without receiving any returns.The sources said one of the suspended real estate companies, owned by a Saudi, has handed over to the Ministry of Commerce an official letter stating that it has paid all the debts owed to the clients.The ministry is preparing to issue a decision over the next few days to suspend one of the exhibitions- organizing companies for two years after it was proven that it has committed serious irregularities, such as executing sales during the last exhibition and allowing participation of some of the banned companies that do not meet the ministry’s requirements.By Rabab Al-Jowhari Al-Seyassah Staff