In a high-profile case of financial fraud, a Kuwaiti court has convicted an expatriate to seven years in prison for cheating an airline he worked for out of a big amount. The man was convicted of manipulating in-house systems to illegally issue and sell air tickets, keeping about \$182,600 for himself.
The court also instructed the convicted person to refund the entire sum and invoked a permanent termination of his employment in the air transport sector. The authorities said that the defendant had taken advantage of a loophole in the ticketing system and sold unauthorized tickets for months before the case was discovered during an internal audit.
Investigations into the matter show that the swindle was precisely planned to keep it undetectable, as the suspects opted to sell off the tickets via third parties so that any clues of in-office activity could be wiped out. The case raised eyebrows regarding compliance and fraud monitoring guidelines within the airline and tourism industry in the Gulf.
Kuwait recently ratcheted up the drive to fight financial crime, specifically in sectors most susceptible to embezzlement. The judgment delivers a robust message to the expat community as well as the citizen population on the zero-tolerance approach towards white-collar crime and the necessity for accountability within the workplace.
