KUWAIT CITY, Nov 15: MPs Musallam Al-Barrak, Faisal Al-Muslim and Abdulrahman Al-Anjari on Monday submitted a grilling request against HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah on the multimillion deposit scandal and the money transfers from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the premier’s personal accounts.

The proponents of the grilling has accused the government of failure to take the appropriate measures to uncover the truth behind the multimillion deposit scam, in which 16 lawmakers — most of whom are supporters of the government, have been implicated. They claimed the premier has deliberately neglected calls for drafting a general policy on combating corruption, in addition to failure to personally monitor the activities of various ministries as stipulated in the Constitution.

Earlier on Sunday, the opposition MPs agreed to withdraw an interpellation request presented by Al-Muslim, Al-Barrak and Khalid Al-Tahous in June to pave the way for the submission of a more comprehensive grilling on the multimillion deposit scam. The opposition believes this will lead to a thorough debate on the corruption issue.

If the interpellation request on the multimillion deposit scam pushes through, it will be the first grilling against the premier since the Constitutional Court ruled last month that he should not be questioned on violations committed by the ministers as he is in charge of the general policy of the state. This came after the government referred a grilling request submitted by MPs Ahmed Al-Saadoun and Al-Anjari in the previous legislative round to the court, demanding for interpretation of certain articles of the Constitution to determine if the interpellation motion is constitutional or not. In a closed-door session Tuesday, the Parliament removed this grilling request from its agenda.

Meanwhile, MP Roudhan Al-Roudhan warned the government and the entire nation will pay a high price if the same steps are taken with regards to the grilling request on the multimillion deposit scandal. “We believe in democracy that is based on the Constitution and parliamentary bylaws. We don’t want the removal of any grilling request from the agenda, because most of the issues included therein are vital,” he added.
“Oh what a shame! This is a violation of the Constitution,” lamented Al-Anjari and MP Waleed Al-Tabtabaei following government’s closed-door session request. Addressing a quorum of 64 lawmakers and ministers, MPs Al-Tabtabari and Adel Al-Sarawwy spoke against the secret session, while MPs Khaled Al-Adwa and Salwa Al-Jassar spoke for the proposition.

As expected, all 20 Opposition Bloc MPs withdrew from Abdullah Al-Salem Hall after 23 MPs and all 15 ministers voted for the grilling’s cancellation from the agenda. The Opposition Bloc, the National Action Bloc (NAB) and MP Hassan Jowhar, a total of 26 MPs, abstained from voting on the issue.

Sheikh Nasser Al-Sabah affirmed that the government will “abide by the decision of the Constitutional Court and the vote results within Abdullah Al-Salem Hall.” The grilling request of MPs Al-Saadoun and Al-Anjari, was submitted during the previous legislative round and postponed for a year or until the Constitutional Court rules on the correct interpretation of articles 100, 123 and 127 of the Constitution which outlines the standards of interpellations against the PM.

The court ruled in October that, based on the articles, Sheikh Nasser Al-Sabah should be questioned only within the limits of his jurisdiction — the general policy of the government, not the duties of the ministers. Based on the interpretation the government believes the grilling is unconstitutional and should be omitted. The opposition, however, argues that the court’s ruling is not binding on grilling requests.

The MPs grilling pertained to the government’s failure to protect its shares in Zain Telecommunications Company, non-compliance with the conditions in dealing with compensation for damages caused by the Iraqi invasion, anomalies in Abu Futair area, and delayed establishment of public joint stock companies to implement strategic projects as stated in the development plan of the country.

Furthermore, the NAB submitted a request to form a committee comprised of MPs Hassan Jowhar and Adel Al-Sarawwy to investigate and examine the suspicious MPs’ bank accounts and measures the Central Bank of Kuwait has taken in that regard. Due to the absenteeism of the Opposition Bloc, however, the request was refused by the government and most of the pro-government MPs, a total of 25 MPs, while only 15 MPs voted in favor of the request. Meanwhile, MP Salwa Al-Jassar abstained from the vote.

Chairman of the Legal and Legislative Committee, MP Hussein Al-Huraiti, said there were previous similar cases where the NA voted to drop grilling requests based on Constitutional Court interpretations. On the NAB’s request, Al-Huraiti said he voted for the formation of the committee because it is Constitutional. He added the request was rejected because of the opposition’s withdrawal from the session, insinuating that some of the opposition MPs have suspicious accounts.

Setting the stage for Wednesday’s scheduled rally by youth political group ‘Nahj’, MP Musallam Al-Barrak urged the public to gather and demand their right to question the PM. Al-Barrak addressed Sheikh Nasser Al-Sabah warning he is now obligated to face “the people’s anger” as his position appears to be more important than Kuwait.

Agencies add: The National Assembly in its regular session held Tuesday rejected MPs’ request to designate two members of the assembly to closely examine scrutiny measures that have been taken by the Central Bank of Kuwait regarding the issue of purported suspicious deposits in accounts of some legislators.

Up to 25 MPs out of the present 41 deputies turned down the request, 15 approved it and one abstained.
The new grilling request alleges that the prime minister failed to take adequate measures to deal with a corruption scandal involving 16 MPs who reportedly received $350 million in bribes to sell their votes on crucial issues.

It also alleges that the prime minister ordered the transfer of millions of dollars from public funds into private accounts held by him abroad.

The government has denied any bad intention saying the prime minister has repaid all the sums to the state treasury.

This issue had forced former foreign minister Sheikh Mohammad Al-Sabah, a senior member of the ruling family, to resign.

Opposition MPs have accused Sheikh Nasser, a senior member of the ruling family, of various charges of corruption including issuing cheques to MPs to win their votes.

Sheikh Nasser, 71, has been a target of opposition attacks since he was appointed to the prime minister post in February 2006, forcing him to resign six times. Parliament was also dissolved three times in the same period.