Qatar has always shown a no-tolerance policy towards corruption and corrupt officials.

The country’s administration has often come down hard on people who gave and accepted bribes or embezzled funds, making an example out of them to prevent others from taking a similar path.

The latest example of the clampdown on corrupt practices came on Friday when Qatar’s Ministry of Interior (MoI) announced that several employees in the General Directorate of Passports department had been arrested for engaging in illegal activities.

بعد البحث والتحري وجمع الاستدلالات اللازمة ألقت وزارة الداخلية القبض على عدد من منتسبيها في الإدارة العامة للجوازات لضلوعهم في ارتكاب جرائم الاستيلاء والاختلاس والإضرار بالمال العام وتمت إحالة المتهمين إلى النيابة العامة لاتخاذ الإجراءات القانونية بحقهم #الداخلية_قطر pic.twitter.com/QEkexOptjg

— وزارة الداخلية - قطر (@MOI_Qatar) August 18, 2023

They have been accused of involving themselves in crimes of appropriation, embezzlement and damage to public money. 

MoI said ‘after searching, investigating and collecting necessary evidence,’ the accused were held and referred to the Public Prosecution to take legal action against them. 

Article 148 of Law No. 11 of 2004 states: “Whoever, being a public officer, embezzles money, papers, or others, which were in his possession in respect of his public office shall be punished with imprisonment for a term of no less than five years and not exceeding ten years.” 

“The penalty shall be imprisonment for a term of not less than seven years and not exceeding fifteen years if the perpetrator is entrusted with deposits of cash or monetary exchange, or if he is assigned to collect fines, fees, taxes or the like and the money is delivered to him in this capacity.”

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