The melting of Shah Reza ice block

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I have an almost certain conviction that a majority of the so-called opposition, and their elders in particular, were not involved in any theft or embezzlement of public money, and this is something they are thankful for. It also deserves thanks to any leading administrator in the state for his integrity and the cleanliness of his hand, although this trust is supposed to be a foregone conclusion, but due to the scarcity of these honorable people, their thanks and praise becomes necessary to encourage them to continue their honesty.

Almost everyone believes that the problem of Kuwait or the problem of the government administration lies in corruption, which is strongly represented in the theft of public money as the case of the thief of the Public Institution for Social Security and before him the one who ‘emptied the coffers’ of the Kuwait Oil Tankers Company, and more recently the thief of ‘Funds’ and the thief of state property ‘sand’, but this is not accurate in all cases.

The thefts of these people often have a ceiling, and most of them are exposed and judgments are issued in their cases, and some of what was stolen is recovered or the thief is imprisoned or is subjected to humiliation, defamation for him and his family.

However, what about the huge thefts, which are invisible, such as the theft of the Dow Project that cost nearly one billion dinars of public money in fines, studies, consultations, and so on, and if dozens of investigation committees were assigned, and those who own the judicial police, they will not reach the truth nor identify those who caused the loss of that huge amount, the truth of theft or embezzlement.

The story of the invisible Dow theft reminded me of the story of the elder Shah of Iran, with an official of the US Treasury who complained about US aid to Iran especially money paid to carry out vital projects, and what was allocated for such projects disappeared and the project remained idle, and the necessity of retribution from thieves.

Shah Reza’s response was unique, and he became classic in explaining what he meant by hidden administrative corruption as he said that American aid is like an ice block as he received it from America and handed it to the Prime Minister, who in turn put it in the hands of the Minister of Finance, who gave the money to the project manager, and over time the size of the money disappeared just how a block of ice melts as a result of changing hands and reached half its original size and this is administrative corruption and real waste that no one can see and hold accountable for.

Many studies in Third World countries have shown that the biggest thief in the country is the employee who does not come to work on time and who is keen to leave before time and such people cause the loss in millions of working hours of public money, add to them those who delay or obstruct, inadvertently or intentionally the transactions of tens of thousands of visitors in various departments and cause the economy to lose billions of dinars annually, without one of them being a thief in the real sense the word.

These are the real thieves who cannot be held accountable, punished, convicted or imprisoned. Their thefts, although they are the most dangerous and largest are hidden and cannot be caught easily.

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By Ahmad alsarraf

This news has been read 16484 times!