Jail Commuted To Dismissal, Fine In Fraud Case

The Court of Appeals overturned the ruling of the First Instance Court which sentenced a female citizen who served as finance officer at the Kuwait Health Office in Washington, to seven years in prison, obligated her to return the money she took illegally – $875,000 and fined her twice the embezzled amount.

The higher court then ruled on the dismissal of the accused and fined her KD20,000.  This came after changing the description of the charges to causing accidental damage to the Health Ministry’s funds. 

In 2015, American authorities charged the accused with money laundering after the FBI arrested her at an American airport as she was supposed to return to Kuwait.  She was under house arrest for months.

Kuwaiti authorities suspected her of committing violations, so they assigned a team of financial auditors to check the documents in the health office in Washington.  The team found out a number of violations including fake hospital vouchers and fake medical procedures done for Kuwaitis.  The team discovered that money was received for such procedures and that the accused forged the signature of a number of Kuwaiti patients and stole most of the money allocated for them, leaving small amounts for the patients. Thus, the Ministry of Health referred the accused to Public Prosecution.

The accused was taken to the Central Jail upon her arrival in Kuwait as per the warrant issued by the prosecution.

 

SOURCE : ARABTIMES

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