A big citizenship scam has been exposed in Kuwait. The citizenship of 978 people who were illegally added to the file of a person who became a citizen in 1965 has been cancelled. This fraud was detected through DNA testing.
Kuwait City: One of the biggest citizenship scams in Kuwait’s history has been exposed by the Nationality Investigation Department. Authorities have canceled the citizenship of 978 people who were illegally added to the file of a person who got citizenship in 1965. The investigation was conducted on the file of the man, who was born in the 1930s and became a Kuwaiti citizen in 1965. He died a few years ago. Officially he had six wives and 44 children.
In this case, the DNA sample of the deceased person became an important clue, which was earlier taken for some official work. When this sample was used to verify children’s claims, fraud was discovered on a large scale. It was proved that many of the 44 children were not his real children. With this, the citizenship of about 978 people including their children and grandchildren was lost. Five people (four women and one man) have absconded to avoid DNA test. The Supreme Nationality Committee has decided that if he does not appear, his citizenship will be canceled outright.
Officials have clarified that even though his file was used for such a huge fraud, it has not been proved that the real citizen was directly involved in it. This action is part of a strict campaign being run by the government to detect those who have acquired citizenship illegally in Kuwait.