KUWAIT CITY, Feb 18: What began as a routine maintenance complaint filed by a divorced Gulf woman has exploded into a sweeping Kuwaiti nationality fraud case spanning two generations — ending with the revocation of Kuwaiti citizenship from 16 individuals and the detention of her ex-husband.

According to informed sources, the woman initially believed her former spouse held dual citizenship. After their marriage collapsed in a bitter dispute over alimony, she alleged that he was evading financial obligations by claiming protection under his Kuwaiti nationality while refusing to pay court-ordered support in her Gulf country before leaving its jurisdiction.

Her complaint triggered a deeper probe by the Nationality Investigation Department — and what investigators uncovered stunned authorities. The ex-husband, it turned out, was not a dual national at all. Instead, he had obtained Kuwaiti citizenship through forgery — a deception that traces back to his deceased father and extends to falsified family names, lineage records, and generational documentation.

DNA Breakthrough

Although the father is deceased, his DNA sample was already on file with the General Department of Criminal Evidence from a previous case. Investigators summoned four men listed as his alleged Kuwaiti brothers and conducted genetic testing. The results confirmed the four men were genuine siblings sharing the same father.

But when the deceased father’s DNA was compared against theirs, the results were conclusive: he was not related to them.

That scientific finding dismantled the family’s claimed Kuwaiti lineage and confirmed that the ex-husband’s nationality had been fraudulently obtained.

Gulf Documents Seal the Case

Authorities also relied on official Gulf documents belonging to both the ex-husband and his late father — documents that established their authentic identity outside Kuwait. Investigators further verified the existence of the ex-wife’s brothers in the Gulf state, as well as the real brothers of the deceased father — his true uncles — strengthening the case with cross-border documentation and lineage confirmation.

Sources described the evidence as “comprehensive and conclusive,” combining DNA fingerprinting, official Gulf records, and documented proof of genuine family ties abroad.

Citizenship Revoked

The case file ultimately implicated 16 individuals. The Supreme Nationality Committee ruled to withdraw Kuwaiti citizenship from all of them. The divorced ex-husband remains in custody, with legal proceedings underway.

What began as a dispute over unpaid alimony has now become another high-profile example of how modern forensic science and cross-border documentation are exposing long-buried nationality fraud — one family tree at a time.