Kuwaiti authorities bust illegal residency address change operation

A gang was arrested for forging residency change requests in Kuwait.

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 23: The General Department of Criminal Investigation’s Anti-Money Laundering Crimes Department has dismantled a network involved in illegally processing residency address change transactions for money, the ministry announced Tuesday.

Investigations confirmed that a network member exploited his position to process residency change requests in exchange for fees. Working in coordination with other accomplices, the group accepted up to 120 Kuwaiti dinars per transaction from clients. These requests were filled out with false information and forged signatures, without the applicants’ knowledge or consent, before being entered into official systems.

Further probes revealed that bribes were collected through indirect means to avoid detection, including the use of bank payment links linked to third parties and the non-payment for food items as part of the illicit gains.

Following legal authorization and the arrest of involved suspects, authorities seized multiple pre-packaged transactions ready for delivery, along with approximately 5,000 dinars believed to be proceeds from the illegal activity.

The ministry reaffirmed its commitment to combating corruption and financial crimes to uphold the integrity of residency and administrative procedures.