Kuwaiti Criminal Court sentenced Brigadier General Adel al-Hashash to 30 years in prison in the case of seizing public funds, known in the media as “interior ministry hospitality.”
The case also includes 24 other defendants such as officials of the Ministries of Interior and Finance, who are accused of fraud and gross negligence, abuse of public money, and money laundering.
The court also ruled that Sheikh Ahmed al-Khalifa, of the royal family, be imprisoned for a period of two years with a suspension of enforcement on a KD 5,000 bail.
The court ordered Hashash and others to return KD120 million. He was also stripped from his position as the Director of MoI Security Media Department.
The verdict was issued after the court had heard the Public Prosecution’s pleading in the previous session, in which it noted that corruption drains the national economy, and warned those who underestimate the capabilities of the Kuwaiti people
The defense team pleaded for dropping the charges against their clients.
Hashash offered in previous sessions of the criminal court to pay the amount of embezzled money, about KD10 million, for his release pending the decision of the case, but his request was denied.
The Public Prosecution Office seized real estate assets of Hashash valued at about KD35 million out of the tens of millions that were seized from public money.
The court sentenced Waleed al-Sanea to 17 years in prison for the charges of facilitating the takeover of funds from the Ministry of Interior and money laundering resulting from the seizure.
Abdullah al-Hammadi was also sentenced to 17 years in prison for two counts of facilitating the appropriation of the Ministry of Interior funds and of laundering funds resulting from seizure.
Two convicts, Hamad al-Tuwaijri and Abdullah al-Mashari were sentenced to a period of 15 years each.
The court ordered the 10 years imprisonment of Iqbal al-Khalfan, Mohammed al-Kazemi, Ghosoun al-Khaled, Ali Mounir Haddad, Abdullah Harouni, and Mohammed Kamal Ballout.
The public prosecution also fined three hotels and seven floral and electrical appliances companies with KD40 million and ordered the permanent closure of the companies for their association with money laundering crimes in the same case.
In 2016, Hashash was director of the Public Relations Department and the official spokesman of the Ministry of Interior. He misused his position to embezzle funds of the ministry, under the pretext of spending on conferences and hospitality security delegations.
