Kuwait has suspended a major general in connection with his alleged link with human trafficking and the visa trading business of MP Md Shahidul Islam Papul.
Kuwait Deputy Chief Minister and Interior Minister Anas Al Saleh issued a decree suspending Maj Gen Mazen Al Jarrah, who was an assistant under secretary of the interior ministry, the Arab Times reported on Tuesday.
Papul named the army officer during an interrogation, as one of the officials who took bribe from his company to allow his visa trading business.
The Kuwaiti interior minister told the parliament that no one will be spared, if found guilty in illegal visa trading, the report said.
Kuwait is planning to heighten the level of punishment for illegal human trafficking and visa trading, the minister added.
Papul has been in jail since his arrest by the Kuwait Prosecution Office four weeks ago.The lawmaker was charged with money laundering and human trafficking.
Over the past two months, a number of Kuwaiti government agencies extended more than four government contracts (the total value of which is 1 million Kuwaiti dinars or $3.25 million) of companies owned by Papul, triggering another scam, reports the Gulf News.
The contracts of government agencies were completed years ago, but some of them ended over the past two months, and were extended, in view of the authorities’ needs amid the coronavirus pandemic, the sources pointed out.
Most of the contracts are related to workers employed as cleaners.
The sources said one of the government agencies, which manages vital facilities, sent a letter earlier this month to the central agency for public tenders to extend the contract with Papul, starting from July 1 to January 19, 2021, but the agency postponed the tenders for consideration.
They added there is another government agency with religious activity that has recently been assigned additional duties to a company of the Bangladeshi lawmaker, who was managing the cleaning of facilities for only one governorate in the original contract.
Another governorate was added to his work, which raised the value of the contract to 720,000 dinars ($2.34 million), and it was also extended until the end of November 2020, the report further added.
Papul runs the Marafie Kuwaitia Group as managing director and CEO and has 5m dinars in assets in Kuwait.
He has four companies in Kuwait, working in general trade, contracting and cleaning of streets and buildings, according to sources.
Two Kuwaiti lawmakers have been already been indicted, while three others are likely to be charged in connection with the case of the Papul.
This comes against the backdrop of the Public Prosecution’s demands to toughen penalties for certain offences currently classified as misdemeanours and attract just a small fine, the report concluded.