KUWAIT CITY — Kuwait’s Ministerial Court sentenced former Interior Minister Sheikh Talal Al-Khaled to 14 years in prison on charges of embezzlement related to the budgets of the defense and interior ministries, Kuwaiti media reported.

The court also ordered Sheikh Talal to return approximately 10 million Kuwaiti dinars (KD) and fined him 20 million KD.

In the first case concerning defense ministry funds, Sheikh Talal received a seven-year prison term and was instructed to repay 500,000 KD, fined one million KD, and permanently dismissed from public office.

A second defendant, a foreign national, was sentenced to four years in prison, fined 294,000 KD, and ordered deported upon completing his sentence.

In the second case involving interior ministry funds, the court sentenced Sheikh Talal to another seven years with hard labor.

He was also required to repay 9 million KD, fined 19 million KD, and had the vehicles involved in the case confiscated. — SG