Video: Marsha Lazareva case has damaged Kuwait's reputation

Mon 17 Jun 2019 11:50 AM GST

A Russian businessman woman jailed in Kuwait for over 470 days has been released on bail, following a high profile campaign involving prominent British, American and Russian supporters, led by Neil Bush, son of former American President George H.W. Bush and barrister Cherie Blair, the wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Tatyana Yumasheva, the daughter of the late former Russian President Boris Yeltsin.

Marsha Lazareva, an employee of KGL Investment Company in Kuwait, was arrested in November 2017 and sentenced to ten years hard labour imprisonment and ordered to pay a fine of 22 million Kuwait dinar ($72 million) in May last year after being found guilty of charges of embezzlement.

The conviction was successfully appealed on May 5, 2019 when it was discovered the documents used as evidence against her were proven to be forgeries and the funds of nearly half a billion dollars she was accused of embezzling were actually frozen in a Dubai bank.

Following a hearing in Kuwait on June 9, Lazereva was freed on bail and released from prison on Wednesday.

(Source: Arabianbusiness.com YouTube channel)