Kuwaiti acquitted of money laundering – No crime committed: lawyer

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KUWAIT CITY, May 6: The Criminal Court has acquitted a Kuwaiti man of money laundering and usury involving a sum of KD 18,000.

The Public Prosecution Department charged the man for laundering KD 18,300 within a period of five months by deliberately obtaining money, possessing, using and transferring the sum knowing fully well he was committing usury. He purportedly did that by lending the money to some Kuwaitis (male and female) to refund bank loans while collecting interest on it.

An officer from the Money Laundering Unit of a local bank testified that the suspect carried out some transfers for the affected individuals and returned the same amount into his own account. He stressed that the sum involved did not match his salary, which was not more than KD 700. The officer also said the man was lending money to people to pay bank loans while the refunds attracted up to KD 2,500 interest per transaction. He evaluated the total sum of usury collected by the defendant to be KD 18,300.

Lawyer Zayed Al-Dosari in his client’s defense denied all allegations against him. He argued that his client did not commit any crime and the affected persons did not submit any petition against him; stressing they had even taken loans that were bigger than the ones previously refunded.

He added the prosecution documents did not contain concrete proofs indicating the affected individuals were in dire need to pay bank loans. He reiterated that testimonies of the prosecution officer were fraught with inconsistency and inference, especially in the sum involved. He insisted the money in question was a part of his client’s inheritance and savings

By Jaber Al-Hamoud Al-Seyassah Staff

This news has been read 9139 times!