By Abubakar A. Ibrahim
Arab Times Staff

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 11: MP Musallam Al-Barrak confirmed Monday that the Interior and Defense Affairs Committee at the Parliament has finalized its report on the questionable release of two Iranian prisoners, who had been accused of trafficking in drugs and impersonating a doctor.

Al-Barrak said he was not surprised when the panel agreed to hold the minister responsible for the release of the prisoners, because he had earlier presented documents to prove this. He alleged he is sure of the minister’s involvement in this issue because it happened during the grilling of the information minister, asserting the government took advantage of the situation at the time to issue illegal decisions.
Meanwhile, MP Khalid Al-Tahous holds Minister of Commerce and Industry Ahmad Al-Haroun, the Public Authority for Industry (PAI), and the Fatwa and Legislation Department for the encroachment of state properties in Amghara and Mina Abdullah Port. He criticized the minister and other concerned officials for asking the Fatwa and Legislation Department to renew the contracts of erring companies even if the Audit Bureau highlighted in its previous reports the violations committed by these companies.
Al-Tahous pointed out he had earlier warned the ministers of commerce and municipality on the encroachment of a state property in Amghara. He wondered why a company obtained a land area measuring 2,000 square kms for KD 2 million or 200 fils per meter a year. He confirmed the municipality minister responded to his warning by revoking the licenses of the erring company, but his commerce counterpart referred the issue to the PAI board of directors and they agreed to extend the contract of a metal-cutting company found to have violated the law. He said the land area has been allocated for the Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW), since there are 40,000 housing grant applications on the waiting list.

The lawmaker added the other issue is a BOT project that reminds the public of the controversies that surrounded the 2007 Electricity Emergency project, as well as the Avenues Mall, which was supposed to be an industrial area but it has been transformed into the biggest shopping complex in the Middle East. He urged the minister of commerce not to renew the license of the metal-cutting company and convert the BOT project into a warehouse.