Fight against corruption hornets continues

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KUWAIT Investment Authority represents the financial bulwark of the nation and the protector of the wealth of generations. Based on law No. 12/2020, it allowed everyone the right to access information related to the investment and public authorities in the country.

In consideration of the aforementioned, there is no doubt that this authority is among those institutions where work is of interest to every citizen as per the legal right because it is concerned with ensuring the continuity of the growth of national wealth.

Therefore, from the time it was founded in 1953 when it was called the Kuwait Investment Board, it has been and still continues to be the focus of citizens’ attention.

This has been reinforced in the recent decades after the wave of corruption that hit the majority of national institutions, and the many violations on public money.

As this scourge did not spare this authority in which the deep state infiltrated and tried to make it a crony farm, many errors and observations have recently been revealed, especially after much talk about abuses in some of its foreign offices, and the measures taken by the Minister of Finance, in his capacity as Chairman of the Board of Directors of it, and the complaints submitted by some employees.

All of this raised Kuwaitis’ fears that the authority would fall into the trap of lootings it witnessed during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, which necessitated sounding the alarm to protect it from errors and flaws.

In its establishment statement, the authority claims that it enjoys complete transparency, and that it submits all its data to the State Audit Bureau, the National Assembly, and other relevant institutions.

However, it seems that there is a problem at the head of some of its officials and we therefore hope such a problem does not apply to them. That is they resorted to the Public Prosecution to silence the influential ones so that the hidden is not exposed, and to avoid taboos.

Because of this, the authority must review law No. 12/2020, first, and secondly, if it finds any error, it should take the initiative to fix it. If it sees misinformation published in it, it must correct it, and not resort to the judiciary in an attempt to prevent the press from exercising popular coverage, which is a constitutional and legal right.

They forget that the press has the right to publish all information and opinions that serve the issue of reform. It does not have the duty to conceal actions and practices that harm the public interest.

The authority also missed the fact that the press today is in the era of a comprehensive reform revolution, and that the political leadership has seized the sword of accountability, starting from the top to the bottom of the pyramid. There are corrupt who are ripe to be exposed, and that is what His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Mishaal Al-Ahmad embarked to do under the directives of His Highness the Amir.

Therefore, the one with “butterflies in his stomach” should not try to divert attention from the bitter reality of what some financial institutions suffer in the country, especially those whose establishment law approved that “the Kuwait Investment Authority continues to work to protect the wealth of current and future generations in Kuwait by diversifying the sources of income and ensuring a sustainable and secure the welfare of the future generations”.

The question remains – Where is the diversification of the sources of income that the investment authority started working on in 1953? What is the rate of dependence on oil from the national product?

We say it openly and frankly – We will continue to expose everything that affects the national interest. Al-Seyassah was never known to be subject to intimidation, but was and still is in a constant confrontation with the hornets of corruption.

In addition to that, we trust in our just and impartial judiciary, which must be on the right side of justice.

By Ahmed Al-Jarallah

Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times

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