Ambulances fraud case adjourned

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KUWAIT CITY, Dec 22: The Criminal Court adjourned to Feb 9, 2020 the lawsuit filed by Kuwait Anti- Corruption Authority (Nazaha) concerning the violations in terms of a tender for supplying ambulances to Ministry of Health.

According to the case file, a businessman and a senior official in the tenders committee have been accused of committing financial violations. The lawsuit was filed early 2018 when the then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Cabinet Affairs Anas Al-Saleh referred to the Cabinet a report prepared by a judicial fact-finding committee about suspicions concerning a number of members of the Board of Directors of the Central Agency for Public Tenders.

They are accused of approving a contract signed directly between Ministry of Health and a company for the supply of ambulances. That company was previously dismissed. Nazaha received a call from a whistle- blower against senior officials in Ministry of Health concerning the supply of ambulances at a cost of KD 3,700,000 by the same company and based on direct contracting.

Nazaha conducted investigations and discovered suspicions of bribery after discovering that a number of members of the Board of Directors of the Central Agency of Public Tenders own vehicles from the same company without paying for them. It was also discovered that the wife of one of the board members owns three cars of the same kind supplied by the company, which cost a total of KD 150,000.

By Jaber Al-Hamoud Al-Seyassah Staff

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