KUWAIT CITY, March 3: The Legal and Legislative Committee Sunday approved the anti-terrorism and money laundering bill and referred it to the Parliament to include it on the agenda during the next session.

Speaking after committee meeting, Rapporteur of the committee MP Yaqoub Al-Sane said the amendments have been made to some articles of the bill. He added the committee has also approved the proposal which was presented by MP Khaled Al-Shulaimi to amend the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development Law which says any amount above KD 50 million needs Parliament approval.
He said the committee also approved a proposal to establish a crisis management and disaster center in addition to approving a proposal to establish a fund to support and encourage students overseas.
He added the committee also looked into a number of requests made by the Public Prosecution to lift the immunity of some MPs. The committee agreed to lift the immunity of one MP and rejected the request to lift the immunity of MPs Nabil Al-Fadhel and Hussein al-Qallaf. Due to lack of quorum the committee decided to postpone the request to lift the immunity on Abdul-Hameed Dashti to next Tuesday.

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He said the committee disapproved the proposal submitted by MP Sadoun Hamad Al-Otaibi to evaluate and expropriate the houses in Blocks 5 and 10 in Khaitan.

He added the committee also discussed and made amendments on some bills on the establishment of Kuwait health insurance stock companies and referred them to the concerned committees.
He said the committee decided to make further study on the proposals presented by MPs to amend the electoral constituencies due to their conformity with the last Constitutional Court ruling that there is lack of jurisdiction to consider the distribution of electoral districts.

He added the Committee also approved a proposal to grant exceptional pensions and bonuses for retired military personnel and for firefighters and forwarded the proposals to the concerned committees.
On another issue, the Finance and Economic Committee held a meeting Sunday in the presence Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Sheikh Muhammad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah and discussed the Public Tenders Law and invited Minister of Finance to attend its meeting on Monday to discuss the loan interests’ issue.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, the committee Rapporteur Safa Al-Hashim stated the committee discussed the proposed amendments presented by the Central Tenders Committee (CTC) on the Public Tenders Law as well as observations made by the Ministry of Finance and the draft bill presented by her and MPs Ahmed Lari, Yousef Al-Zalzalah, and Mohammed Al-Jabri.

She explained the official observations that represent a source of concern in the Public Tenders Law is the issue of ‘local agent’ and the attempt to remove this condition from the law.

During the meeting she stressed on this issue regarding the CTC “so that Kuwait become a financial and commercial hub to attract foreign investment and foreign investors without restrictions and conditions of the local agent.” She noted the 2 percent has, over the years, become a source of constant headache for foreign partners and local agents.

She disclosed the meeting of the Finance Committee on Monday will discuss the loan interests issue in the presence of Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shamali.

Sheikh Muhammad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah stated the meeting discussed the latest developments on Public Tenders Law adding, “It appears a lot of important additions have been made to the law by the government and some MPs and it was agreed that these observations be added in the legal tables so that the government can study and comment on them and also give the committee members an adequate time to consider these amendments.”

On the loans interest issue, committee member Ahmed Lari urged the Finance Minister to attend the committee meeting Monday “to discuss the issue and come to agreement to enable the committee close the chapter with a less cost on the public fund and ensure more fairness for all citizens.”
 He added the committee has a vision and need to listen to the government opinion and know its financial cost which stipulates that the state should buy the remaining interests on the loans that were taken before April 1, 2008, adding this date was recognized because the Central Bank had issued a circular after it and issued strict decisions that fixed interest value.

Rapporteur of the Human Rights and Bedoun Committee MP Taher Al-Failakawi said the committee held a meeting Sunday and deliberated on the situation of bedoun in the presence of representatives of the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Justice and Social Affairs and Labor.

He added the meeting also discussed a draft bill on the establishment of the National Authority for Human Rights submitted by some MPs. He added, “It appears that there is a government draft law for the establishment of the Human Rights Bureau but it was decided to combine the two draft laws to come out with one bill which is the National Authority for Human Rights.”

Al-Failakawi also disclosed the committee discussed the proposal submitted by MP Abdul-Rahman Al-Jeeran which calls for opening the source of income for bedoun by distributing them stalls and shops in all areas of Kuwait, providing them with special training courses in business professionalism and craftsmanship, support small enterprises with specified amount and oblige private universities to give admission to a minimum of 20 excellent bedoun students.

He added the proposal will contribute in solving part of the problem facing the bedoun. He noted the committee has decided to turn the proposal into a bill to be presented to the Parliament for discussion.
In another development, MP Saadoun Hamad Al-Otaibi confirmed his readiness to grill Minister of Oil Hani Hussein next Tuesday, hoping the minister will be ready as he had stated earlier.

Al-Otaibi made this statement after conducting a rehearsal on the grilling inside Abdullah Al-Salem Hall. He added, “If the Oil Minister did not stand on the podium then the problem will lie with the government because the minister has announced his readiness to face the grilling but it is the Prime Minister who told him not to do so, therefore the ball is now in court of the government.”

He added in the rehearsal he showed places where booze is sold and the partnership with the Zionist state (Israel) and the minutes of the board meeting on the partnership with Tel Aviv. He added, there is no need to postpone the grilling “because postponing it would mean preventing oversight on the $20 billion total value of various petroleum projects.”

He noted the Vietnam contract contains a fine of $3 billion and that he has official documents to prove these claims during the grilling debate. He added any MP who votes to postpone the grilling will be considered as ‘agreeing’ on the issue of $3 billion fine which the state incurred in the Dow Chemical contract.