Kuwait: 10 years imprisonment for 19 defendants in the commercial raffles case
The Criminal Court ruled In Kuwait, today, Monday, 19 defendants (including an employee at the Ministry of Commerce) were punished with 10 years in prison, in addition to fining them 3 million dinars, in the case of tampering with commercial raffles.
The newspaper reported "The socket" Kuwaiti News Agency, that the court sentenced 28 defendants to 4 years’ imprisonment, while acquitting and abstaining from 36 other defendants.
The court noted in the merits of the ruling the seriousness of what the defendants, especially the first defendant, did in his capacity as a public employee – the head of the Free Offers Department at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry – by deceiving and manipulating his job to achieve undeserved personal gains, which is considered immoral behavior that strikes at the principle of justice and equal opportunities.
The court said that This type of fraud makes the raffles lose their credibility, weakens the confidence of the public participants in the organizing bodies, creates a feeling of frustration and injustice among others, harms the rights of the participants, undermines public confidence in transactions, destroys the reliability of official documents, and harms the state’s financial reputation before international institutions.
The Public Prosecution confirmed that what happened in the commercial raffles case in which 73 people are accused is not an individual mistake, but rather Public function and weaknesses in oversight, in order to achieve illegal financial gains and share them among its members.
- For more: Follow Khaleejion 24 Arabic, Khaleejion 24 English, Khaleejion 24 Live, and for social media follow us on Facebook and Twitter
