Names on Pablo’s ‘treasure’ cell

This news has been read 40118 times!

KUWAIT CITY, June 29: The investigation of the Bangladeshi resident, who is also known as ‘Pablo’ has opened a can of worms, reports Al-Seyassah daily.

‘Pablo’, who is being held pending accusations of money laundering and human trafficking, security sources confirmed that unloading the mobile phone contents of the accused revealed a lot of facts and information and is seen as a ‘treasure for investigation agencies’ since it includes the names of senior officials in the ministries of Interior and Social Affairs and members of the National Assembly.

From the security aspect, the sources expect the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Anas Al-Saleh, soon to issue a decision to suspend a ‘prominent senior official’ from work after his name popped up during the investigations as one of the suspects.

His secretary has been charged with receiving bribes and banned from travel.

According to the security sources the senior official’s secretary has admitted to receiving bribes in ‘cash’ from the Bangladeshi (Pablo).

The money was deposited in the account of a private company which he owns and then the money was cashed on the strength of checks issued in the name of the senior official in such a manner that there was no direct relationship between the ‘senior official’ and the Bangladeshi.

The Public Prosecution Office has confirmed the statements made by the secretary regarding the accounts and checks. The sources said the senior official has contributed to the issuance of 23,000 entry visas for Bangladeshis.

The senior official is said to have used his position to bypass an earlier decision which forbid issuance of visas to citizens of Bangladesh, during his tenure in office.

The same sources confirmed on the list of the accused is an assistant undersecretary at the Ministry of Social Affairs, who is still under investigation by prosecution, noting all people – senior officials working for state agencies – who appear in the pictures and videos found on the phone of the Bangladeshi are being summoned for interrogation.

The sources emphasized the recent developments will have strong reactions in relation to the overall employment file, expecting decisions to be issued soon to reorganize the labor market, most notably the reduction in the number of expatriates in government contracts, which may include: stopping the import labor from Bangladesh Bengali and prevent the issuance of visit visas to the Egyptians.

On the political front there are clear indications that the ‘Bangladeshi’ issue has opened the door for a ‘raging war’ as the parliamentary elections are just a few months away under the slogan ‘hitting openly below the belt’. Parliamentary sources have confirmed that the Speaker of the National Assembly Marzouk Al-Ghanem received yesterday, a letter from the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Dr Fahad Al-Afasi including two requests from the Public Prosecution to lift the immunity of two MPs, one from the First Constituency and the second from the Third Constituency on charges of money laundering and visa trading, noting that the request did not include the name of the third MP from the Fourth Constituency despite the fact that his name has surfaced during the investigations. Pablo, who is a Member of Parliament in Bangladesh and allegedly owns a cleaning company in partnership with a Kuwaiti, is accused of money laundering and human trafficking.

Meanwhile, MPs Muhammad Al-Dallal and Osama Al- Shaheen submitted a proposal for Kuwait Anti-Corruption Authority (Nazaha) to submit reports to the National Assembly and Council of Ministers every four months.

According to the proposal, the reports should include the main corruption issues – whether local or global with links to Kuwait, steps taken by Nazaha to address these issues, legal action taken in this regard, corruption issues reported by individuals or public institutions, and measures taken by the authority in response to such reports.

Al-Dallal and Al-Shaheen explained the proposal aims to fortify the principle of transparency, comply with the United Nations convention against corruption, and improve the position of Kuwait in the Corruption Perception Index.

On the other hand, MP Thamer Sa’ad Al-Dhefairi forwarded queries to Minister of Justice Fahd Mohammed Mohsen Al-Afasi about the money laundering and visa trading cases of a Bangladeshi MP. He wants to know if the Public Prosecution has requested for lifting the immunity of any MP since May 1, 2020 for involvement in the aforementioned cases. If yes, he asked for the names of these MPs.

This news has been read 40118 times!