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Monday, February 23, 2026
 
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Long-term jail, heavy fines in funds scandal

publish time

23/02/2026

publish time

23/02/2026

Long-term jail, heavy fines in funds scandal

KUWAIT CITY, Feb 23: The Criminal Court, presided over by Judge Ahmad Al-Sadi, concluded the embezzlement case involving funds from the Public Institution for Social Security (PIFSS). The court sentenced the first defendant, a Gulf national, to 15 years in prison, a female PIFSS employee to 10 years, and the bank employee to 10 years, and imposed fines exceeding KD 12 million.

The defendants were found guilty of embezzling more than KD 4 million from PIFSS funds. According to the case file, the defendants manipulated the inheritance data of Gulf nationals by exploiting forged powers of attorney. They altered the records of married individuals, students, and employees between 2007 and 2022, which enabled them to carry out illegal fund transfers.

The first defendant offered bribes of KD 10,000 to the bank employee and KD 3,940 to the PIFSS employee to facilitate and process the illegal transactions. The bank employee embezzled over KD 78,000 from PIFSS funds by forging salary transfer certificates and fraudulent powers of attorney in collusion with the first defendant. The court fined the first defendant KD 8,272,000 and ordered him, together with the PIFSS employee, to return KD 4,136,000, representing the embezzled funds. The bank employee was fined KD 5,928,000 and ordered to return KD 2,964,000.

Two other defendants were sentenced to prison terms ranging from three to seven years and fined amounts between KD 132,000 and KD 311,000 after being convicted of laundering money obtained from the embezzlement of public funds by providing false information. Several other bank employees and individuals were acquitted due to insufficient evidence proving their knowledge of or involvement in the forgery.

By Jaber Al-Hamoud Al-Seyassah/Arab Times Staff