KUWAIT CITY, April 5: Between August 2004 and May 2024, a female expatriate teacher received a total of 105,000 dinars in salary payments, despite her absence from work. These payments were made even though the teacher failed to report to her duties. However, the Public Prosecution dismissed any suspicion of criminal activity related to public funds, as the salary payments were not used and remained in the teacher’s account until the Ministry of Education recovered them.

According to the facts outlined in the Attorney General’s decision, the Ministry of Education filed a complaint with the Public Prosecution about the teacher’s absence from work. The teacher had been absent without excuse for 15 consecutive days, starting from September 4, 2005, the beginning of the 2004-2005 school year. This led to her receiving her salary from the time she stopped working until May 24, 2024.

The ruling noted that the teacher had been appointed as an Arabic language teacher at an elementary school on August 24, 2004. The school principal confirmed that she had not been working there since taking on administrative duties in 2015. Despite this, her name remained in the system. She reached out to the Personnel Affairs Department and the elementary school supervisor to have her name removed. While her name was removed, this issue persisted every academic year. In February 2024, after the fingerprint system was activated, it was discovered that her name was still listed in the system, even though she had not been working. As a result, an administrative investigation was launched, leading to the suspension of her salary and termination of her services.

The decision also mentioned a notice from the Director General of the educational region regarding the teacher’s absence from work starting on August 24, 2004. The total amount of salary payments that were unjustly received from the date of her absence until May 23, 2024, amounted to 105,331 dinars, which were transferred monthly to her account. When the bank was contacted, it was confirmed that all the transferred amounts remained in her account. The Central Bank then recovered the full amount and deposited it into the Ministry of Education's account. The Ministry incurred no financial loss, as the funds were restored.

The investigation revealed that the teacher had not used her bank account since ceasing work, indicating no criminal intent to appropriate public funds. Furthermore, an entry and exit record from the Ministry of Interior showed that she had left Kuwait on June 14, 2005.

No evidence was found suggesting that any officials at the teacher’s workplace had intentionally facilitated her receipt of the salary payments, nor was there any indication that the teacher had intentionally taken the funds. Additionally, the amounts transferred to her account remained untouched from the time of transfer until the discovery of the issue, with no actions indicating her knowledge of the transfers or intent to take the money.

After investigating officials at the Ministry of Education, the decision concluded that it was impossible to identify who was responsible for disbursing the teacher’s salary. She had been appointed in 2004, when paper records were used, and some documents had been lost, which undermined any claims of public funds misappropriation.

Based on the investigation, the Public Prosecution decided to exclude any suspicion of public funds misappropriation, recorded the case in the administrative complaints register, and decided to archive the case administratively. Additionally, the search for the teacher, against whom the complaint had been filed, was discontinued.