Individual Corruption

The US Department of State 2009 reports that foreign citizens involved in court cases in Kuwait often claim that the courts are biased in favour of Kuwaiti citizens; however, Global Integrity 2008 reports that there is no systematic discrimination against foreigners in the courts.

Surveyed households in both  Kuwait Economic Society Kuwaiti Public Opinion Survey Report 2007 and Transparency International Global Corruption Barometer 2009 perceive the judiciary to be the least corrupt institution in the country, and according to the latter source, only a small percentage of the responding households reported having paid a bribe in 2008.

Business Corruption

The US Department of State 2011 reports that foreign companies are often frustrated with the slow pace of the Kuwait Judiciary. Business leaders in the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report 2010-2011 perceive the Kuwaiti judiciary to be relatively independent from influences of members of government, citizens or companies.

Political Corruption

Albeit the formal independence of the judiciary, sources disagree as to whether the judiciary is independent in practice. For example, Global Integrity 2008 states that the government often loses court cases as an indication of the high independence of the judiciary, while the Bertelsmann Foundation 2010 states that the judiciary often makes decisions in accordance with the official political view.

On the other hand, the Heritage Foundation 2011 reports that the judiciary lacks independence because all judges are appointed by the Emir, and that judicial branches are widely perceived to be affected by corruption.

Frequency

The World Bank & IFC: Doing Business 2011:
- To enforce a commercial contract, a company is required to go through 50 procedures, taking 566 days at a cost of 18.8% of the claim on average.

World Economic Forum: The Global Competitiveness Report 2010-2011:
- Business leaders give the independence of the judiciary from influences of members of government, citizens, or companies a score of 4.9 on a 7-point scale (1 being 'heavily influenced' and 7 'entirely independent').

- Business executives give the efficiency of the legal framework for private companies to settle disputes and of the legal framework to challenge the legality of government actions and/or regulations a score of 4.4  and 4.2 respectively on a 7-point scale (1 being 'extremely inefficient' and 7 'highly efficient').

Transparency International: Global Corruption Barometer 2009:
- Citizens give the judiciary a score of 1.7 on a 5-point scale (1 being 'not at all corrupt' and 5 'extremely corrupt')

- 3% of the households surveyed consider the judiciary to be 'extremely corrupt'.

- 3% of the households who had contact with the judiciary in 2008 report to have paid a bribe.