State Security Crimes Court sentences 9 Syrians to 10 years in prison and fines two companies nearly 6.9 million dinars in a money laundering case
A court of state security and terrorism crimes, presided over by Advisor Nasser Al-Badr and with the membership of Advisors Omar Al-Mulifi, Abdullah Al-Falah, and Salem Al-Zaid, sentenced nine Syrian nationals to 10 years in prison after convicting them in a money laundering case. The court also fined them, along with two companies engaged in general trade and the sale of perfumes and incense, a total amount of 6.884 million dinars.
The court also acquitted two defendants and ordered the permanent closure of the two companies’ offices, prohibiting them from engaging in any commercial activity, following their conviction in the case.
The Public Prosecution had charged the defendants with forming an organized criminal group that committed money laundering offenses exceeding 2.294 million dinars. According to the referral order, these funds were obtained through crimes harming the country’s national interests, forgery of banking documents, fraud, and conducting banking and money transfer activities without a license.
The prosecution stated that the members of the syndicate employed a fraudulent scheme targeting citizens and residents through fake advertisements for selling food products on social media platforms. They then sent electronic payment links with values differing from the agreed-upon prices, leading victims to pay for other goods without their knowledge.
The prosecution added that the network relied on individuals with good intentions to collect goods from stores. One of the defendants would then sell the goods and convert them into cash, which was circulated among the syndicate members before being deposited into personal bank accounts and the two companies’ accounts as commercial revenues, in an attempt to legitimize them.
The charges also included conducting banking activities without a license from the Central Bank of Kuwait, as well as forging deposit receipts at the Kuwait Commercial Bank by falsely stating that the deposited funds represented commercial revenues, contrary to the truth, with the intent to conceal their illicit source and legitimize them.
