Legislator submits bill to place limit on detentions

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KUWAIT CITY, July 16: National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim met the representatives of Kuwaitis who have not been paid salaries, with MP Nasser Al-Dousari in attendance.

During the meeting, Al- Ghanim stressed the keenness of the Assembly to address the issue in coordination with the government. He confirmed support for the demands of Kuwaitis without salaries, calling on the executive authority to quickly find a just solution to the problem.

On the other hand, the representatives of Kuwaitis without salaries expressed gratitude to Al-Ghanim for supporting these citizens.

In the meantime, MP Khalid Al-Otaibi submitted a bill to amend Penal Code No. 17/1960 in order to prohibit the detention of an individual in a police station for more than 24 hours. It stipulates the need to inform this individual about the reason for his arrest through a written and formal letter signed by the investigator and the individual.

If it is necessary to extend the detention of the arrested individual to prevent him from escaping, the remand order must not exceed seven days. The remand order must include the reasons for extending the detention, while the arrested individual must be allowed to call his lawyer and meet the latter separately.

Meanwhile, MP Ahmed Al- Fadl forwarded queries to Minister of Finance Barrak Al-Shitan about the overseas investments managed by the Future Generations Fund. He requested for copies of reports on the annual and cumulative performance of the overseas investment portfolios managed by the fund in the last three years and the last 10 years, as well as copies of reports covering the same periods on the gains of these investments apart from the 10 percent of revenues added to the fund every year.

He said these reports should include a comparison between the fund’s performance and the average performance of the relevant geographic region according to the applicable indexes. He asked for copies of reports on the investment performance of the fund in London after deducting the operating fees, cash acquired by Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) in the last 10 years, and comparison of gains with interests of the international securities according to global indexes within the same period. Since KIA assigned a certain consulting office to lay down a strategic plan for the distribution of assets, the lawmaker inquired if the KIA Board of Directors approved the plan.

He also wants to know the cost of the plan and date of its implementation, and requested for a copy of the current plan. He added KIA established a portfolio for its strategic contribution to global companies, so he demanded for copies of reports on the performance of this portfolio since inception and according to the accredited index. He said KIA assigned managers for international portfolios allocated for investing a portion of the public reserve, so he requested for copies of reports on the portfolios’ performance and the management cost.

He asked if KIA appointed a director to manage global securities after the end of the term of the former director, number of sections in the Securities Department managed by acting directors, and criteria for appointing supervisory officials. He also wants to know the results and recommendations of the committee formed by the former minister of finance to investigate a number of violations at KIA, if these recommendations have been executed, number and nationalities of consultants at KIA, if any of them reached the legal retirement age, and reasons behind the dramatic termination of the directors of Shares Section and Securities Section at the London office of KIA.

In another development, MP Al-Humaidi Al-Subai’e revealed the committee tasked to investigate appointment and promotion violations in the oil sector met on Wednesday, during which several decisions were taken. He affirmed the committee continued its discussion on Thursday.

Moreover, MP Abdulkareem Al-Kandari agreed that the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal necessitates referral of several officials to the Public Prosecution; but since this is a huge scandal, it is also necessary to refer to the prosecution all those who have covered such crimes and protected the perpetrators for years. He added they should include officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Central Bank of Kuwait, Kuwait Financial Investigations Unit and State Security Department.

By Saeed Mahmoud Saleh Arab Times Staff

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