Kuwait revokes citizenship of 53 more people in major fraud investigation
Total withdrawals in single citizenship file rise to 520 as probe continues
Kuwait’s Supreme Committee for Citizenship Investigation has completed another phase of one of the country’s largest citizenship fraud investigations, ordering the withdrawal of citizenship from a deceased man who was found to have been fraudulently added to the file of a Kuwaiti citizen, along with 53 people registered as his dependents.
The latest decision brings the total number of citizenships revoked in connection with the same file to 520, after 467 cases were dealt with in earlier stages. Authorities said investigations into the original citizenship file are still ongoing to determine the true identity of its holder.
According to informed sources, the original citizenship file belongs to a man who had five wives. Earlier investigations found that three wives had children registered under his file, but none of those children were biologically related to him.
Investigators also discovered that another son had been fraudulently added under the file of a fourth wife.
Those earlier investigations led to the revocation of citizenship from hundreds of people linked to the forged registrations, including a former member of parliament and a former government adviser.
The committee’s latest decision focused on one of the men who had been falsely registered as the file holder’s son. Born in 1947 and now deceased, he had 53 sons and daughters listed under his citizenship record.
Investigators also found that four fictitious children’s names had been created under his file. Officials believe these names were intended to facilitate the future addition of more fraudulent beneficiaries.
Authorities said the case was established through three key pieces of evidence.
First, the man’s name did not appear in the official inheritance records of the original family. Second, the genuine sons of the file holder confirmed during the investigation that the man was not their brother and had been wrongly added to their father’s record.
The third and most decisive evidence came from DNA testing, which compared the descendants of the fraudulently registered individual with the biological children of the original file holder.
The tests conclusively confirmed that no biological relationship existed between them.
Based on the findings, the committee ordered the withdrawal of citizenship from the deceased individual and all those registered under his file.
Officials said the broader investigation remains open as authorities continue examining the original citizenship file to establish the true identity of its holder and determine whether additional fraudulent registrations are linked to the case.
