Mar.25, 2010

KUWAIT: There have been new revelations in the Bahraini money laundering case, which have seen a Kuwaiti woman accused of involvement in the controversial operation which apparently laundered money on behalf of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Bahraini minister Mansour bin Rajab has already been forced to resign over his involvement in the case, with suspicion now falling on the accused Kuwaiti woman's brother, a military officer with the Ministry of Interior (MoI), as well as a bedoon (stateless) employee in his private firm.

Bahraini investigators have also accused several prominent GCC and Iraqi nationals linked to the case of involvement in a number of illicit activities alongside their commercial enterprises, including oil and weapons smuggling.

Meanwhile, the accused woman, who works as a teacher at a Kuwaiti school, has reportedly continued to protest her innocence of money laundering and denied having any connection with the IRG. She has apparently told detectives questioning her that she travelled to Bahrain on business, meeting with the disgraced former minister twice, once to offer condolences on the death of his son and on the other occasion in connection with a business project to open a billiards hall there.

She claimed that she had given the former minister KD 60,000 for the license for the venue, adding that he had requested an additional KD 300,000 for carrying out other official transactions necessary to launch the business. Investigations have also revealed that the woman and a Bahraini male associate had cashed cheques for other individuals.

The financial crimes section of the Criminal Investigation Department's financial crimes division is apparently examining the trading history of the company owned by the woman to discover whether it has been involved in further money laundering activities connected to this case.

Meanwhile, the woman's brother's bedoon employee is accused of offering Bin Rajab 30,000 Bahraini Dinars (KD 22,937.67) in exchange for obtaining Bahraini citizenship for himself and his family. The disgraced Bahraini former minister, meanwhile, continues to deny accusations of having connections with the IRG. He has also claimed that he rejected a business offer from the Kuwaiti female suspect to invest in joint projects in Oman.