Papul Gets 7 Years Jail in Kuwait

A Kuwaiti court has sentenced former Laxmipur-2 MP Kazi Shahid Islam Papul to seven years in prison in a human trafficking case. Earlier, he was sentenced to four years in prison in a money laundering case in Kuwait.

Kuwait's top appellate court has sentenced the former Bangladeshi MP to seven years in prison and a fine of 2.7 million Kuwaiti dinars.

In addition to Papul, Maj. Gen. Mazen al-Jarrah, undersecretary of the Kuwaiti Interior Ministry, and Hassan al-Khidr, director of manpower, were also sentenced to seven years in prison. Kuwaiti government officials have also been ordered to be expelled from their posts in a bribery case. Former Kuwaiti MP Salah Khurshid has also been sentenced to seven years in prison and fined about 7.5 lakh Kuwaiti dinars.

Paplu was arrested on June 7 by the Kuwaiti Criminal Investigation Department. At the time, Gulf News reported that Kuwaiti prosecutors had filed three charges against Papul. The allegations include human trafficking, money laundering and the sale of resident permits to domestic workers.

Papul was arrested after five Bangladeshis lodged charges against him. The Bangladeshis said that Papul had taken more than tk 8.25 lakh from each of them to send them to Kuwait. In addition, they had to pay a new fee each year to renew the residency visa.