Kuwait orders detention of ex-PM on corruption charges

Kuwait’s Ministerial Court yesterday ordered the pretrial detention of former Prime Minister, Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, over the alleged mishandling of military funds, local media reported.

Anadolu Agency reported a Kuwaiti legal source as saying that “the court has ordered the imprisonment of Jaber Al-Sabah, who appeared before it today, in the case of the Army Fund.”

According to the source, the court also refused to release former Interior Minister Sheikh Khaled Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah along with two army officials imprisoned in the same case.

A gag order was also imposed at the request of the defence team, the source added.

“It is prohibited to publish any news or data about the case in all print, audio and visual media and in all news and social communication programs on the internet,” the source explained.

READ: Kuwait anti-corruption body to investigate resignations in Finance Ministry

The court has set the next hearing for 27 April.

Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak, 79, and Sheikh Khaled Al-Jarrah, 68, deny the charges against them.

The case dates back to November 2018, when former Defence Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Sabah submitted a complaint about violations and suspected crimes related to public finance that occurred in the Army Fund that exceeded 240 million Kuwaiti dinars ($768 million).

The crimes allegedly took place during Jaber Al-Sabah’s 2001-2011 term as defence minister.