KUWAIT CITY — A Kuwaiti court on Tuesday ordered the detention of the country's former Prime Minister Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah on corruption charges, local media reported.

Jaber Al-Sabah is the first former Kuwaiti prime minister to face pre-trial detention over graft charges.

The court ordered the imprisonment of Jaber Al-Sabah, who appeared before it, in a case over the alleged mishandling of a military aid fund.

The court also refused to release former Interior Minister Sheikh Khaled Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah along with two army officials imprisoned in the same case.

"The court imposed a gag order at the request of the defense team of the former premier and the former interior minister."

"It is prohibited to publish any news or data about the case in all print, audio, and visual media and in all news and social communication programs on the internet.”

Local daily Al-Qabas said the court had scheduled a session on April 27 for the case, without clarifying the period of imprisonment for the former premier.

The case dates back to November 2018, when former Defense Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Sabah submitted a complaint about "violations and suspected crimes related to public finance that occurred in the Army Fund that exceeded 240 million Kuwaiti dinars ($768 million)."

The crimes allegedly took place during Jaber Al-Sabah’s 2001-2011 term as defense minister. — Agencies