KUWAIT CITY, Jan 23: The detention renewal judge has extended the detention of 11 defendants in the Central Prison based on their connection with groups involved in leaking high school exam papers, until February 7 for their arraignment. The court session was attended by the defendants - six Kuwaitis, four Egyptians, and a Jordanian - accompanied by their defense team.

They denied the charges attributed to them of disclosing secrets, bribery and money laundering. Their defense team submitted a request to release the defendants on bail of any amount that the court deems appropriate, but the court did not respond to this request and decided to renew their detention.

According to informed sources, the main suspect in the case is a Kuwaiti citizen who managed to fl ee outside Kuwait. The second accused, nicknamed as “The Dealer”, is a Kuwaiti woman who works as an administrator in the Ministry of Health. She’s the one who coordinates and manages the groups along with the main suspect. The third accused is the Assistant Principal of a school. An amount of KD 107,000 was found in her personal account and she is not even 31 years old.

The Public Prosecution ordered the freezing of the accounts of all the defendants arrested pending the case. So far, the number of defendants in this case is 23 and they are all being subjected to investigations. It is expected that this number will increase and the accusation circle will expand to include other citizens and expatriates.

The Public Prosecution addressed the Central Bank of Kuwait to provide it with bank statements of the accused to know the source of their money and the way they obtained it. It also instructed the Criminal Investigation Department to intensify investigations. Investigations held so far confirm the involvement of students in the case, as they promote the groups and receive a percentage of the sums paid to the main suspects.

Those who sold earpieces after promoting them on social media were summoned to write their statements about how they obtained these earpieces, and to determine whether they are connected to the accused. The sources revealed that there are people outside Kuwait in an Arab country who are involved in the groups but have never entered Kuwait once. They answer questions and send them to groups that are prepared for cheating. The phone numbers used for making these groups are international, and not local numbers. By Jaber Al-Hamoud Al-Seyassah Staff