While the circle of indictment widened in the case of Lakshmipur lawmaker Md Shahid Islam alias Papul, remanded in custody on charges of human trafficking and money laundering, Kuwaiti government scandal emerged on Sunday, Gulf News reported quoting Kuwaiti media.
Official sources revealed to Al Qabas over the past two months, a number of Kuwaiti government agencies have extended more than four government contracts of companies owned by Papul.
The sources pointed out that 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 total value of the four contracts is one million Kuwait dinars ($3.25 million), and most of them are related to workers employed as cleaners.
The sources said one of the government agencies, which manage vital facilities, sent a letter earlier this month to the central agency for public tenders to extend the contract with a “Bangladeshi lawmaker,” 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 member of parliament,” who was managing the cleaning of facilities for only one governorate in the original contract, and 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.
Papul, the accused, runs the Marafie Kuwaitia Group as managing director and CEO and has five million dinars in assets in Kuwait.
Sources revealed that he has four companies in Kuwait, working in general trade, contracting and cleaning of streets and buildings.
Two Kuwaiti lawmakers have been indicted, while three others are likely to be charged in connection with the case of Papul.
This comes against the backdrop of the Public Prosecution’s demands to toughen penalties for certain offences currently classified as misdemeanors and attract just a small fine.
Papul, an independent member of parliament elected from Lakshmipur 2 constituency, was arrested by Kuwait authorities on June 7 in Kuwait City on charges of human trafficking and money laundering.
According to Al Qabas, Papul is a member of a three-man racket whose other members include another Bangladeshi MP, whose wife is also an MP from the seats reserved for women.
It added that the trio occupied sensitive positions in three major companies that brought over 20,000 Bangladeshi workers into Kuwait in exchange for large sums of money believed to be in excess of 50 million dinars.
Kuwaiti media have also accused Papul of trading visas and siphoning off money to the US for laundering.
In February, Papul dismissed as “false and imaginary” allegations that he trafficked people to Kuwait.
He told reporters, “I was not even involved in manpower export, let alone human trafficking.”
