KUWAIT CITY, Aug 11: The Public Prosecution has completed the file of the Malaysian Fund case, which has been suspended for two years due to the failure to obtain information from international bodies, and it will most likely be referred to the Criminal Court next week, reports Al-Seyassah daily quoting sources. Sources revealed that the defendants in the case, most notably the son of former prime minister Sheikh Sabah Jaber Al-Mubarak, are facing money laundering charges and the amount involved exceeds one billion Kuwaiti dinars.

On July 18, the Malaysian website – Sarawak Report – demanded that Kuwait should freeze all funds deposited in accounts under the name of Sheikh Sabah Jaber Al-Mubarak in China Bank, Kuwait branch; so Malaysia can lift the ‘banking secrecy’ restriction and reveal exactly what happened to the previous funds.

The website revealed in its report, published by the daily at the time, that there have been attempts to recover funds of the Malaysian Fund deposited in the branch of a Chinese bank in Kuwait, in collaboration with officials in the former ruling party in Malaysia, which was behind the corruption scandal. The website called on Kuwait to cooperate with the international investigation into the case and with Interpol; especially after an online petition was launched and signed by 19,000 Malaysians demanding for the return of the people’s money. They said: “In a country where a mother may be imprisoned for two years for stealing a bottle of milk to feed her children, the fund’s money is still suspended and those involved are hidden.” Sources affirmed the Kuwaiti government fully cooperated by sending delegations to Malaysia in 2020 to solve the crime through protocols, but the Government of the Hope Alliance left at the time.