KUWAIT: The court of cassation on Monday ordered a freeze on the implementation of a 14-year jail term against former interior and defense minister Sheikh Talal Al-Khaled Al-Sabah and set June 23 to start hearing the case. The decision was issued after Sheikh Talal gave himself up to the court and demanded that the jail term be frozen until the court of cassation, the highest court in the country, had ruled on his appeal.
The special court for ministers in January sentenced Sheikh Talal to 14 years in jail, ordered him to repay KD 10 million to the two ministries and fined him KD 20 million over a graft totaling KD 10 million. During the session, Sheikh Talal denied the charges and any wrongdoing. The court convicted the former minister of embezzling KD 9.5 million from the defense ministry and KD 500,000 from the interior ministry.
Sheikh Talal was appointed in the Cabinet for the first time as defense minister in Dec 2021 and continued until Jan 2024. He was also given the interior portfolio during that period, either separately or together with the defense post. In recent years, Kuwaiti courts have jailed several ministers and senior officials over corruption cases and ordered them to repay embezzled funds and imposed hefty fines on them. The ministers’ court is currently trying former defense minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah over alleged corruption of KD 400,000. He has denied the accusations.
Separately, the ministry of health said on Monday it has shut five private health facilities and referred 23 others, including hospitals and medical centers, to investigation for allegedly violating rules governing advertisements and medical practice. The ministry explained that the decision was based on search campaigns by ministry teams, which found that advertisements by those facilities contradicted the principles of the medical profession.
