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Kuwait Law

Kuwait Law: Shoplifting

Hi everyone, my name is Fajer and I’m a legal counsel at a local law firm. One of Mark’s forum users had a law related question and he thought it might be a good idea to get me involved on the blog with law related posts starting with the questions his forum user had. I’ll post the users problem first followed by my response below it.

THE PROBLEM
My brother was accused of shoplifting a packet of AAA batteries at a supermarket. He was leaving the supermarket when the detector at the exit started buzzing and they found the battery pack on him. It was by accident and he tried to explain that to them but he was arrested, booked and slapped with a robbery case as well as a travel ban.

My questions are the following:
1) What is the law here towards shoplifting?
2) Is it justifiable to send a guy to jail and keep him there for more than 24 hours without a case?
3) I heard from a friend of mine supermarkets usually don’t get first time offenders arrested and just end up paying a penalty instead is that true?
4) Is it possible to friendly settle this case out of court?

THE RESPONSE
The answer to your situation is not very straight forward but I will try to go through your questions and explain everything to you.

1) What is the law here towards shoplifting?
There is no specific law in Kuwait towards shoplifting but the act of shoplifting falls under the crime of robbery. The official English translation of the Kuwaiti criminal law describes robbery in Article 217 as “A person is guilty of robbery, if he embezzles movable property, owned by a third party, with the intent to acquire it” … ahhh lawyers and their confusing legal sentences… so wait lets break things down.

In every law, for any country, all crimes consist of two parts:

Point here is that you have to have intent to steal to be charged with robbery. If your brother forgot to pay for the batteries by accident, the verdict should be innocent but to get to that verdict you need to prove “Mens Rea”.

2) Is it justifiable to send a guy to jail and keep him there for more than 24 hours without a case?
According to the new criminal procedures law (and without getting into detail), the police officers have the right to hold someone up to 48hrs (it used to be longer) if they are accused of a crime. This would not be in prison but in a police station with the aim of starting an initial investigation before going to court. Their initial investigation might be to ask a few questions, find evidence and to figure out what laws apply.

3) I heard from a friend of mine supermarkets usually don’t get first time offenders arrested and just end up paying a penalty instead is that true?
Article 143 states that it is a crime to not report a robbery so the Supermarket was abiding by the law when they reported the crime to the police. Now some supermarkets might be more forgiving and let it slide, but, “letting it slide” is a crime on their part and so I could understand why some supermarkets wouldn’t want to let it slide.

An interesting fact, if you’re inside a supermarket and you pick up a chocolate bar, eat it and then leave the supermarket without paying for it, then you have not “taken the property from the possession of a third party” (as the law article goes on to define embazzlment) therefore you have not moved the object from the ownership of the supermarket and so is not defined as robbery. This definition caused a lot of problems in Kuwait because people were using services and not paying for them or eating at restaurants and not paying for the meal so another law was passed where it said that this action was not a crime… but you had to pay a fine of KD75 plus the cost of the service or food you ate. So most likely that’s the penalty you heard about.

4) Is it possible to friendly settle this case out of court?
No it is not possible to settle robbery cases in Kuwait. Some crimes in Kuwait like robbery are considered to be against the community and not just the supermarket and so one individual does not have the right to settle it. The criminal court needs to look into the case.

So I know you didn’t ask me this, but…

5) What is the punishment for robbery in Kuwait?
Article 219 of the criminal states the punishment as being up to 2 years of jail time or/and a fee of up to 2000 Rupees (yes the law is that old that the fees are still in Indian Rupees).

So this means that a judge can ask the accused to go to jail for 2 weeks or 2 months or 6 months and 3 days just as long as it is not more than 2 years. Or he can make you pay 100 rupees or 1500 rupees. He could also decide no punishment or both a jail time and fine. The judges have a lot of power here.

But the maximum isn’t always 2 years because Article 221 was added and changed it to 3 years for certain situations:

Hope the above helps you out. One more thing I forgot to mention, the cost of the item doesn’t matter so a packet of AAA batteries or a gold necklace are treated the same.

Fajer Ahmed – Legal Counsel
Have a Kuwait law related question? Email me at [email protected]

The legal opinions expressed in this post are those of the author Fajer. Opinions expressed by Mark or any other writer on mark248am1.wpenginepowered.com are those of the individual’s and in no way reflect Fajer’s opinion.

41 replies on “Kuwait Law: Shoplifting”

Interesting.
Now, a picture of Fajer along the article would have been nice. I will be imagining her to be like Meghan Markle from the show Suits (Trust me, its much better than Danny Crane ;p).

I can’t believe there are still laws using Rupees. It’s like in Parks and Rec when they open the Pawnee law books and find out that it still laws any woman found laughing is a witch

Oh to actually make a useful comment instead of a joke: You should do something on the Kuwait Labor Law because I’m pretty sure 90% of employees don’t know their rights/think “whatever I can’t say anything”

Thanks for the info Fajer, this is really cool.

I do have one suggestion though, you should really remove your email from the post, unless you like receiving copious amounts of spam for the rest of your life. Maybe you can have a thread on the forum where people can contact you?

I only say this because i have my email in one of the posts here and i’ve been getting spam because of it for years.

Once again, thanks and good luck.

You are welcome. Glad i was helpful.
Thank you for your considerate suggestion. but I prefer that people can contact me privetly. In a profession like law, some issues might be sensitive.
I can take spam LOL

Hie Fajer. Now you know why I always carry Rupees in my wallet! Tell me, what happens to those who come into bookstores read a book, or part of it, and walk out without paying for it?? Isn’t that in par with someone going into a restaurant, eating a full meal, or just the starters, and fleeing without paying for it? If this be so, I have quite a lot of people to sue! Will you be my lawyer too?:)-

It’s different for books. Reading a book in a book store isn’t like eating at a restaurant, because the value of the book is still there. And it didn’t cost you anything. It’s like sitting on a sofa in a furniture store.
With that said, your bookstore, your regulations. You can have a rule that says no reading, but you can’t let them walk in and then sue them. But, hey, if I had a bookstore I would let people in and let them read. It must feel great to share knowledge with people.

I think the article should correct the term being used “robbery” with “theft”. Robbery is to steal by force or threat of force. Theft is when you just steal something.

The officially certified translation of the Kuwaiti Criminal law uses the word robbery in articles 217, 218, 219, 221 (the ones used in the article), with violence or without, but thanks for the useful info.

Thanks for your hard work. No wonder the laws here a crazy, when the certified translators cannot differentiate between theft and robbery. They must have used the cheapest translation service they could find so they could pocket the difference for the munaqasa.

This piece of law is amazing-

An interesting fact, if you’re inside a supermarket and you pick up a chocolate bar, eat it and then leave the supermarket without paying for it, then you have not “taken the property from the possession of a third party” (as the law article goes on to define embazzlment) therefore you have not moved the object from the ownership of the supermarket and so is not defined as robbery.

Another thing, does one pay in Rupees or equivalent Kuwaiti Dinar?

Thanks Fajer for the detailed post. Appreciate it.

Thanks Mark for opening up this avenue for us.

Having a lot of issues with our company and some of us here needed to discuss them with a lawyer.

Many thanks Fajer. Your post is certainly useful to know and understand the implications of small incidents (accidental or otherwise) and how they can impact the person & the family concerned.

Please keep spreading the legal awareness & am sure many would utilize your valuable inputs and would certainly be grateful for your support. God bless your noble initiative.
Keep up the good work. Good luck.

Please guys keep in mind that Kuwaiti or not, you should never criticize the law in Kuwait, any negative comments about the legislation body or the jurisdiction system can put you in Jail for 1 year, just like one of the lawyers who was a Kuwaiti young lawyer that believed the laws and sentences recently were not fair, got smacked with a 1 year sentence, revoked of his license, now having a criminal history and unable to work in any public or private sector for life, and unable to use the welfare system for ever.

Watch out folks, the situation here is like cavemen who just discovered how to make fire,the entire jurisdiction was brought from egypt back in the late 60’s.

I would like to know what law and article you have made these assumptions on. Criticizing a Judge or a judgement may be illegal yes. Criticizing a legislator or a person in power personally may be illegal. But criticizing the law and it’s implications is not. I have been doing it with mtg colleagues and professors for the last 5 years.

Well done Fajer! Your writing is smooth and you made it so very interesting to read.
Accept our best wishes for you noble endeavor. I am sure many readers will benefit from your post. God bless you.

I have a few questions regarding issue #2, the investigation phase. So the police have the right to hold someone for up to 48 hours without a charge? Or is a charge required? Also what protections does a person who is being held have? Does the person have the right to an attorney? A right to remain silent? For example, in the U.S., once a suspect is arrested, and asks for an attorney, all investigative communication with the suspect must cease. The investigators must speak to suspect’s attorney instead.

And thanks for the great write up.

A charge is required. They are holding you for an investigation.yes has the right for an attorney. I’ve heard cases where family can even visit.
Hope that helps. You are more than welcome.

Fajer,
Nicely written.

Also took note of the mature and appropriate responses 🙂

Cheers and God bless!

Hi Fajer,

Thanks for this. With regards to your answer of Question 3 above, you mentioned an interesting point where for example eating a piece of chocolate owned by third-party does not constitute a crime of robbery under the Kuwaiti criminal code (16/1960). You also mentioned that a law was passed to rectify this and fine the offender.

Could you please provide a copy of this latter law? I am interested in reading it.

One more thing, doesn’t Article 249 of the Kuwaiti Criminal Code (Act 16/1960) apply on that hypothetical case above?

Once again, thank you for your time.

Best wishes.

Hello. I want to ask your input about an overseas domestic helper in Kuwait being accused of theft of more than 10,000 KD. If proven to be guilty, what are the punishments if ever? How long do you think will be the jail time and the fine for the money allegedly stolen? And if you cant pay for the fine, can you still be deported back to your home country after serving imprisonment? Thank you. Please help

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