According to local newspaper reports, the Kuwaiti Trade Ministry is monitoring six gold companies over money laundering concerns. It follows them experiencing rapid business growth, including in the number of branches they have compared to other companies in the sector. The growth was discovered in an audit by the Ministry of the companies’ activities for the last three years. If the Ministry confirm irregularities in their financial statements, they will submit a report to the Financial Investigation Unit to take the action it considers appropriate.