Kuwait transfers ex-interior minister to prison pending probe

Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber al-Mubarak al-Sabah (R) and Kuwaiti Interior Minister Sheikh Khaled al-Jarrah smile, during a parliament session at Kuwait’s National Assembly, in Kuwait City on 3 July 2019. [YASSER AL-ZAYYAT/AFP via Getty Images]

The investigation committee in the Kuwaiti ministerial court has ordered the detention of former Interior Minister, Sheikh Khaled Al-Jarrah, and the former Undersecretary of the Ministry of Defence, Jassar Al-Jassar, and Fahd Al-Baz be extended and to transfer them to the central prison until 14 March, Al-Rai newspaper reported on Saturday.

The paper said the defendants had been transferred to the central prison until they appear before court in the case related to the alleged embezzlement of nearly $800 million from a military aid fund.

In November, the Kuwaiti Defence Minister at the time, Sheikh Nasser Al-Sabah, said he had filed a report to the country’s Attorney General over the embezzlement of 240 million Kuwaiti dinars ($794.5 million) which had taken place before his 2017 nomination to head the defence ministry.

The Public Prosecutor in turn referred the report to the ministerial court for investigation.

Sheikh Al-Jarrah had previously confirmed his readiness to appear in court to defend his integrity, saying the fund had been allocated to their designated venues, during his tenure as defence minister in the 2013 and 2014 governments.

READ: Kuwait leads Gulf countries in political rights and freedoms

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