Kuwait’s Criminal Court presided over by Counselor Nasser Al-Badr sentenced two Gulf nationals to seven years in prison with hard labor and fined each one million dinars for forging Kuwaiti citizenship. According to the Public Prosecution the defendants falsely claimed kinship to a deceased Kuwaiti man and used the fabricated identity to obtain citizen-only financial support while employed in the country. The court ruled that the forgery and fraud offenses were interconnected leading to the illegal transfer of public funds into the defendants’ accounts. Investigations confirmed the pair produced counterfeit official papers to maintain the deception for years.
The two men forged a civil identification card a nationality certificate and a passport to support their false claims. These documents were presented to various government employees who entered the information into state records acting in good faith. The scheme allowed the defendants to receive benefits that are restricted to Kuwaiti citizens under national law. Public Prosecution documents detailed how the falsified records deceived multiple agencies over an extended period.
Among the entities defrauded were the Kuwait Credit Bank the Public Authority for Manpower and the Public Institution for Housing Welfare according to the prosecution. The defendants received salaries loans and housing assistance reserved for nationals resulting in significant losses to public coffers. The court ordered full repayment of all unlawfully obtained sums in addition to the prison terms and fines. This verdict aligns with a pattern of strict penalties in similar identity fraud prosecutions.
The case forms part of a wider campaign by Kuwaiti authorities to eliminate fraudulent citizenship claims. The Supreme Committee for Kuwaiti Nationality Investigation headed by First Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Fahad Al-Yousef has reviewed around 450 names linked to forgery and dual nationality violations informed sources said. The committee enforces updated nationality laws that permit revocation when evidence shows non-biological individuals were added to family files.
Nationality Investigation Department officers rely on biometric fingerprinting DNA testing and cross-referenced archives to uncover schemes that date back decades. Multiple operations have exposed networks in which Gulf individuals impersonated Kuwaitis or invented family connections to secure employment and state aid. Such probes have led to citizenship revocations and criminal referrals even when the original fraud occurred more than 30 years earlier.
Judicial officials have emphasized that no statute of limitations applies to these national security matters. Similar rulings have imposed comparable seven-year terms with fines reaching several million dinars in aggregate. Authorities continue to pursue active cases while urging anyone with knowledge of fraudulent registrations to come forward through official channels.
