CERTAIN crimes are not subject to the statute of limitations. For example, crimes against public funds never expire. This allows the government to pursue legal action against such crimes, because they represent serious corruption that negatively affects the state and its citizens.

Many countries worldwide, including some Gulf countries seek to fight such corruption. In these countries, when cases of corruption and embezzlement of public funds were discovered, their leaders directly supervised the implementation of the deterrent measures that led to the recovery of those funds and the imprisonment of the looters, regardless of their status in society. This is because corruption is like cancer that leads the state to destruction.

Some countries publicize their achievements in their fight against corruption and the recovery of the embezzled funds. Some others take further steps to seize the amounts obtained through corruption and illicit means.

In Kuwait, since its liberation from the brutal Iraqi invasion, there has been a trend of systematic looting of public funds through legal channels, either in large-scale projects or through fraudulent activities within institutions. There are some who became wealthy overnight and smuggled their money abroad. All of this occurred under the watchful eyes of the very institutions and agencies that are tasked with combating corruption, characterized by concepts like “the gamekeeper turned poacher,” “scratch my back, I scratch yours,” and “don’t spit where you eat.”

Kuwait today suffers from inadequate implementation of major projects where corruption has been apparent for years. Some of these projects remain incomplete to to this day due to the influence of the corrupt networks. The deep state still have their fingers in most institutions, and are able to plunder public funds at any time.

Indeed, reform cannot be achieved overnight, but treating the root cause of the disease is much more important than alleviating the pain. This is because the state needs a lot of money to be pumped into future projects. Because of that, it must start holding accountable those who have been looting public funds for the past three decades, similar to what Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Qatar, and the Sultanate of Oman did in their struggle towards reforms. Each of these countries has adopted effective methods that have enabled them to combat and reduce corruption. As a result, they are currently ranked among the highest internationally in terms of transparency and the absence of corruption.

In this regard, there are many examples of comparisons between sound planning, preserving public funds, and blatant embezzlement, as seen in Kuwait. For instance, the cost of the “Empty Quarter Road,” which is a road of length 564 kilometers that links the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Sultanate of Oman, was USD 250 million. Meanwhile, the Jaber Bridge, which is a length of 50 kilometers, incurred a cost of USD 3.6 billion.

Also, the cost for the construction of the university city has so far reached KD 2.782 billion, approximately equivalent to USD 1 billion.

In addition, the total costs for the two cultural centers are around USD 1.161 billion, which is much higher than the budget of the Cultural District (Katara) project in Doha, Qatar.

Here we will not discuss about the rest of the projects, such as the roads that have been suffering since 2005 due to poor asphalt quality, loose gravel, and deliberate delays in completion, or other infrastructure projects, all of which have their own costs and challenges.

Most projects in other countries are conducted directly between the government and the contractor, but in our case, every corrupt person has a share in the projects.

Therefore, it is imperative for the state, specifically the government, to open these files and address these issues of corrupt enrichment at the expense of public funds if it is seriously committed to reform and recovery of the looted assets, as the state has signed many agreements with other entities in this regard, otherwise, the state will continue to face deficits like a pan with a hole.

By Ahmed Al-Jarallah

Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times