KUWAIT CITY, March 5: The National Assembly voted Tuesday on the postponement of the grilling of Oil Minister Hani Hussein and Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shamali until the next legislative round.

MPs Sadoun Hammad Al-Otaibi and Nawaf Al-Fuzai submitted the grilling requests against the two ministers earlier. A total of four interpellation requests have been presented since the inauguration of the Parliament two months ago. Ahead of this vote, majority of the parliamentarians reached an agreement two weeks ago to postpone the other two interpellations in order to give the government a chance to rectify its mistakes.

Al-Otaibi and Al-Fuzai presented the grilling request against the minister of oil, while the latter submitted the interpellation against the finance minister. The vote on the postponement came after the two ministers demanded for a grace period of four months each to conduct investigations and address the issues highlighted in the grilling requests, in accordance with Article 135 of the parliamentary standing order.

At least 33 votes are needed to approve the proposal. Results showed that 39 voted in favor of postponing the grilling of the oil minister, 19 were against and four abstained.

On the finance minister’s grilling, 32 voted in favor and 25 against, meaning the interpellation will not be postponed as the required number of votes to pass the proposal is 33. MPs Khalaf Dumaithir and Mubarak Al-Khurainj arrived only at the end of voting, so their votes were not counted.

Parliament Speaker Ali Al-Rashid adjourned the session for 15 minutes to consult legal experts and then another round of voting was conducted to include Dumaithir and Al-Khurainij. The result was very close with 34 votes in favor, 25 against and three abstained.

The grilling motion against the oil minister focuses on several issues, including the oil ministry’s alleged violation of law number 21/1964 on severing ties with Israel by allowing the sale of alcohol and pornographic magazines in fuel stations, which belong to Kuwait Petroleum International (KPI) in Europe - an act punishable by law as per Penal Code number 16/1960.

This is in addition to the financial and administrative violations that have resulted in the termination of the contract of Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC) with Dow Chemical Company, financial and administrative violation at Kuwait’s foreign oil refineries, and administrative violations related to job promotions in Kuwait Oil Company (KOC).

Meanwhile, the grilling motion against the finance minister touches on relations between the Central Bank of Kuwait, the commercial banks and financial institutions; relationship between commercial banks and the debtors; breach of contracts; causes of the problem; violation of law; procedural problems caused by the banks due to the Central Bank’s lack of oversight; and loopholes in the procedures taken to address the loans issue.

Commenting on the grilling, Al-Shamali confirmed there is full cooperation between his ministry and the Parliament to address all pending issues, especially the loan interest and the amendments on the Defaulters Fund. He said the government will study each issue in coordination with the parliamentary Finance Affairs Committee.

Talking about the same issue, Chairman of the committee MP Yousef Al-Zalzalah, who supports the postponement of the grilling, said he understands Al-Fuzai’s determination to grill the finance minister “because there were clear violations on the part of the banks due to the Central Bank’s lack of oversight”. He added the loan interest issue is not new as there had been many attempts to solve it through the Defaulters Fund. “Due to this failure, the MPs submitted other bills. The committee will present a mechanism to resolve this issue within the next two weeks and we expect the ministers to cooperate,” he explained.

On the other hand, Al-Fuzai stressed the grilling should not be postponed because the loans interest issue has been left pending for 11 years. “I will submit more grilling requests unless the loan interest issue is resolved and those responsible are held accountable,” he asserted.

MP Khalil Al-Saleh, who voted against the postponement, argued the grilling must be postponed only for two weeks in accordance with the by-law, instead of four months which is too long.

He said the loan interest issue has affected every Kuwaiti household; hence, the need for radical solutions and harsher penalties.

Furthermore, the oil minister explained the grace period is enough for him to implement the programs and policies of his ministry, achieve proper reforms and correct mistakes. He said if nothing is done after four months, the lawmakers have the right to grill ministers but it should start with the submission of queries, discussion of responses and then the grilling without harming public interest.

In the meantime, Al-Otaibi believes there is no point in postponing the grilling because the State has incurred losses amounting to billions of dollars due to the cancellation of contracts with Dow Chemical and other foreign oil companies. He claimed thousands of fuel stations belonging to Kuwait International Petroleum in Europe are selling alcohol.

MP Abdullah Al-Tameemi, who supports the grilling of the oil minister, warned the promotion process in the oil sector is a ticking time bomb. He said the minister should stand on the grilling podium now because he had been in the Oil Ministry for over 40 years and he knows about all the violations mentioned in the grilling motion.