Ex-premier's graft case a test of justice in oil-rich Kuwait
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Where is Sheikh Jaber? Kuwait was abuzz with the question as citizens on social media demanded to know the whereabouts of their 79-year-old former prime minister. He’d been ordered detained pending trial in an unprecedented move last month over the alleged embezzlement of millions of dollars from a military aid fund.
When the scandal involving the sheikh and another royal
family member erupted into public view nearly two years ago, it unleashed a
rare wave of street protests. It prompted the Cabinet’s resignation and forced
a reckoning in the Gulf Arab state about endemic corruption that has entrapped
ministers and stained the country’s sprawling bureaucracy for generations.
Activists believe corruption runs rampant through the region
of oil-rich Gulf Arab sheikhdoms, but public criminal cases against senior
officials and royal family members remain rare, typically playing out behind
palace doors.
That may be changing, however, with recent explosive feuds
over money laundering in Kuwait, a major corruption sweep in Saudi Arabia and
last week’s arrest of Qatar’s powerful finance minister in an embezzlement
probe.
Now, Kuwait’s justice system is testing government pledges
to hold ministers accountable for $790 million gone missing from the Defense
Ministry fund years ago.
The ministerial court ordered two former ministers and royal
family members, Sheikh Jaber al-Mubarak Al Sabah and his ally, former Defense
and Interior Minister Sheikh Khalid al-Jarrah Al Sabah, detained last month in
Kuwait’s Central Prison over their suspected misuse of the ministry’s funds.
The court also sent lower-ranking officials to jail pending trial and imposed a
travel ban on Sheikh Jaber, according to a statement widely published in
Kuwaiti media.
But Sheikh Jaber has not been spotted in public since the
criminal prosecution began, and speculation has swirled about his fate. Many
doubt the former prime minister is, in fact, languishing at the notorious
prison on the dusty outskirts of Kuwait City riddled with reported coronavirus
outbreaks.
That doubt reveals the deep-rooted distrust among Kuwaitis
that authorities are pursuing the case in earnest. Social media has been ablaze
in rumors in recent weeks even after the court accepted the defense team’s
request to ban news and social media from publishing details about the trial
sessions.
Kuwaiti newspapers — still reporting despite the court order
— said the defense team maintained the former prime minister’s innocence during
the most recent hearings. Sheikh Jaber’s legal team did not respond to repeated
requests for comment amid the gag rule. Kuwait’s Information Ministry declined
to comment on the case, citing the court’s secret investigation.
Soon, WhatsApp groups crackled with leaks that while other
officials remained in detention, Sheikh Jaber’s version of state custody was a
special hospital wing decorated like a palace with hotel service. A doctor at
Kuwait’s state-run al-Amiri Hospital confirmed to The Associated Press that
Sheikh Jaber, who skipped the last court session due to reported health
problems, was receiving treatment there. The doctor declined to give details
and spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, like most people
interviewed.
“It wouldn’t be the first time,” a Kuwaiti anti-corruption
activist said. “We are waiting and watching to see if this case ends up like
the rest.”
The case of the missing military money is one of several
scandals that have surfaced in Kuwait in recent years, damaging public
confidence in its political establishment. Parliament has since shot down a
public debt law that would raise billions of dollars for the government to
solve its worst liquidity crisis since the 1991 Gulf War, in part over
corruption fears.
In the fall of 2019, late defense minister Sheikh Nasser
Sabah Al Sabah pressed for an investigation into the missing millions,
triggering the downfall of the government when ministers refused to stand for
questioning in parliament. Other schemes that later came to light have tainted
Kuwait’s reputation, including a massive scandal at Malaysia’s state investment
fund that ensnarled Sheikh Jaber’s son, now released on bail.
Under pressure, the government created a new Anti-Corruption
Authority and a dozen similar committees. The late emir, Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad
Al Sabah, vowed on state TV at the time that “no one, no matter his position,
will escape punishment if convicted for public fund-related crimes.”
Yet modest hopes for accountability have dimmed, with
various investigations stagnating over the years. In the nation flush with
petrodollars, critics describe a culture of corruption extending from everyday
“wasta,” or political connections, to bloated public works projects. Lawmakers
have blamed that on Kuwait falling behind neighbors like Dubai in terms of
development and foreign investment.
“Much more needs to be done to resolve Kuwait’s problems.
For one, the judicial system is in need of a major overhaul,” said Bader
al-Saif, an assistant professor of history at Kuwait University. “Without all
of the embezzled money returned and prison sentences given if those implicated
are at fault, the corruption will continue.”
Others more optimistic say the pre-trial detention of such
powerful officials marks a pivotal moment in Kuwait’s drive to root out graft —
and note it already has borne fruit.
Earlier this month, a leaked court document revealed that
Sheikh Jaber had paid back 53.9 million Kuwaiti dinars ($180.7 million) to the
state, which prosecutors had accused him personally of misappropriating. A
lawyer at the court confirmed the authenticity of the receipt, calling it an
important precedent.
“Former officials at court in jail clothes is not something
you see often here,” he said.
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