KUWAIT CITY, July 31: The Court of Appeals sentenced four employees of the Ministry of Electricity and Water – two Kuwaiti citizens and two expatriates – to four-year imprisonment with hard labor for hacking into the ministry’s systems and changing the electricity meter bills of commercial complexes for which they received bribes. Another employee who was accused of the same allegations was acquitted by the court.

The Public Prosecution has charged the defendants with hacking electricity meters to reduce electricity bills for commercial complexes, resulting in substantial financial gains, as well as with breaching their job duties and misappropriating public funds. Lawyer Ali Al-Asfour, representing the first defendant in the case, argued that his client should be acquitted, as he was the one who reported the incident and acted as a witness, as well as provided crucial information about the crime. As a result, the court decided to acquit him while the other defendants were convicted of the crime.