KUWAIT CITY, Aug 14: A shocking case of fraudulent citizenship has rocked Kuwait, tracing back to 2022 when the Department of Nationality and Citizenship received a report from a Gulf citizen alleging that a Kuwaiti national had obtained citizenship illegally.

The complaint revealed a tangled family story: the whistleblower’s aunt, married to a Kuwaiti citizen, had passed away without children. While handling inheritance matters in Kuwait, the complainant discovered that a relative of his late aunt was, in fact, his mother, a woman originally from a Gulf state. To support his claims, he presented official Gulf documents, including fingerprint records, raising urgent questions: were these papers genuine or forged?

Authorities quickly verified the documents with the relevant Gulf state. The confirmation sparked a full-scale investigation, and biometric comparisons between Gulf and Kuwaiti fingerprints revealed a perfect match, exposing the individual’s true identity.

Following the revelations, the case was referred to the Public Prosecution. The accused was tried and sentenced to seven years in prison. Investigations further uncovered that his Kuwaiti identity was entirely fabricated, with his legal Gulf name being different and his birth traced back to 1947.

The inquiry revealed a staggering 29 children registered under his file — all non-Kuwaiti, inheriting their father’s Gulf nationality. The Supreme Committee subsequently ordered the revocation of his Kuwaiti citizenship as well as that of all his children, striking a dramatic blow against fraudulent nationality practices in the country.