Four arrested & detained in money-laundering case – ‘Real estate market fraudulent’

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KUWAIT CITY, Nov 17: In an interesting twist in the Public Prosecution’s investigation into the case involving Kuwait’s TMAS Company which has been accused of money laundering, Attorney General Dhe-rar Al-Asousi issued a protective order on the bank accounts of the company and its affiliates — TMAS Real Estate and Star Neighborhood Real Estate — and addressed the Central Bank in this regard, reports Al-Jaridah daily.

Al-Asousi decided to freeze the assets and accounts of one of the company’s officials — a Sudanese who was repatriated to Kuwait by the concerned authorities in the United Arab Emirates through the Interpol 10 days ago. The Interpol ordered his detention for 21 days, along with another company official — a Jordanian.

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This increases the number of those arrested and detained in connection with the case to four, although the investigation is still ongoing. Meanwhile, around 70 percent of the real estate market in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) could be fraudulent as observed in purchase transactions of apartments, houses and land in the real estate exhibition hosted by Kuwait, reports Al-Shahid daily quoting sources.

In his statement, sources disclosed the court is now looking into a number of cases filed by citizens against real estate offices after allegedly discovering that the pieces of land they bought during the exhibition are located in bare valleys while the houses are only on paper. Sources said some victims have consulted the concerned government bodies in the UAE to inquire about the locations of the real estate properties they purchased and they were surprised when told that the land areas are not for sale.

Also, the apartment buildings featured in the exhibition turned out to be dummy as such structures are not permitted in the specified areas while the fraudsters have yet to be identified. It turned out that a company in the UAE conspired with the owners of dummy real estate properties to provide information to their contacts in Kuwait, in addition to the presentation of fake maps and blueprints, sources narrated.

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