KUWAIT CITY, July 27: The Court of Cassation presided over by Judge Ahmad Al-Ajeel upheld the ruling of the Court of Appeals which sentenced an officer of rank “Colonel” in the Ministry of Interior to 15-year imprisonment with hard labor, and a number of expatriates to jail terms ranging between seven and ten years after they were convicted of misappropriation and laundering of funds belonging to the Police Cooperative Society.

It upheld the dismissal of the “Colonel” from his position and the deportation of expatriate defendants following the completion of the sentence. However, the court decided to increase the fine imposed by the lower court on the defendants by almost double from KD 1.68 million to about KD 3 million.

It ordered the confiscation of the money subject to the crime of money laundering, stating that the Police Cooperative Society will take into account the rights of the employees in the Ministry of Interior in terms of recovering the looted money.

The court also upheld the acquittal of one of the defendants on charges of money laundering, forgery, and misappropriation of the funds of Police Cooperative Society, and repealed the ten-year prison sentence. According to the case file, the Public Prosecution had accused the defendants, considering them as public officials occupying positions of the general manager of the cooperative society, a collector, an official in the accounts department, an accountant, and a data logger, of unlawfully acquiring KD 1.68 million.

By Jaber Al-Humoud Al-Seyassah Staff