KUWAIT CITY, Dec 12: The Court of Cassation, chaired by Counselor Khaled Al-Omara, upheld the lower court's verdict in the embezzlement case involving 15 million dinars from funds allocated for overseas medical treatment. The court sentenced the first defendant, an Egyptian and the director of a travel agency to 10 years in prison and fined him 6 million dinars. The second defendant, a Kuwaiti citizen and former official in the Ministry of Health, was sentenced to 7 years in prison (currently incarcerated pending the case) and fined 300,000 dinars for facilitating the embezzlement. The Ministry of Health, through its representatives during the Public Prosecution’s investigations, confirmed that the first defendant, leveraging the absence of a health office in a European country, had issued fake invoices related to medical treatments and hotel reservations for Kuwaiti citizens. This fraudulent scheme enabled him to embezzle over 15 million dinars.

By Jaber Al-Hamoud
Al-Seyassah/Arab Times Staff