Details reveal broad scope of amnesty; Suspicious deposits in focus

This news has been read 20741 times!

KUWAIT CITY, Nov 9: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al- Jaber Al-Sabah recently issued a decree on granting amnesty to those convicted in political cases. It has been reported that the decree is applicable to the following categories: The first category includes those exempted from punishment as follows: Musallam Al-Barrak, Mubarak Al-Waalan, Faisal Al-Muslim, Salem Al- Namlan, Khalid Al-Tahous, Jamaan Al-Herbesh, Meshaal Al-Zaidi, Abdulaziz Jarallah, Abdulaziz Al-Meneis, Nasser Al-Mutairi and Muhammad Al- Blehees. The second category includes some of those convicted in the Abdali Cell case who are no longer required to complete their prison sentence as follows: Husain Al-Maatouq, Ali Al-Beloushi, Jassem Ghadanfari, Baqer Al-Haddad, Ali Al-Bloushi, Zuhair Al- Mehemeed and Hashem Fadel. The third category includes those whose prison terms have been reduced by half as follows: Muhammad Al-Meeraj, Ammar Dashti, Husain Al-Tabtaba’e, Muhammad Hajji, Hassan Al-Attar, Husain Jassem, Ali Abdulraheem, Husain Al-Bazer, Jaafar Jamal, Mustafa Abdulnabi Khan, Abbas Al-Mussawi, Abdulmuhsen Al-Shatti, Mahdi Al-Mussawi, Yousef Ghadanfari, Hassan Ramadan, Bassel Dashti and Essa Baqer.

Meanwhile, 11 MPs have submitted a proposal to form a fact-finding committee; which will investigate suspicious deposits into the accounts of lawmakers, ministers and senior officials. These MPs include Shuaib Al-Muwaizri, Fares Al-Otaibi, Marzouq Al-Khalifa, Saleh Zeiab Al-Mutairi, Abdulaziz Al-Saqaabi, Muhannad Al-Sayer, Muhammad Al-Mutair, Thamer Al-Suwait, Khalid Al-Otaibi, Abdulkareem Al-Kandari and Mubarak Al-Hajraf. They suggested that the committee should consist of five MPs who will be elected by the National Assembly.

The committee’s functions include investigating various issues which emerged from 2009 till date as follows:

■ Suspicious deposits into the abovementioned officials’ bank accounts;

■ Real estate, industrial, agricultural and other properties of these officials that are being rented out in the country or abroad;

■ Tenders and contracts put up for bidding by ministries, public institutions or oil sector in favor of these officials;

■ Armament deals like Caracal, Euro Fighters and Raval aircraft;

■ Investments of the Public Institution for Social Security (PIFSS);

■ Merger of Kuwait Financial House (KFH) and Ahli United Bank (AUB).

The committee will review the reports of monitoring institutions on the relevant issues and submit its report to the Assembly within three months. In another development, MP Osama Al-Menawer forwarded queries to Minister of Oil and Higher Education Dr Muhammad Al-Fares about the activities and lectures organized by the Cultural Committee at the College of Arts in Kuwait University. He wants to know if these events are scheduled without affecting the academic calendar, entity or individual tasked to follow up these events, and if there is a decree stipulating the rules regarding these events.

He also asked Minister of Finance and Minister of State for Economic and Investment Affairs Khalifa Hamada about the deposits in the Lebanese banks and Central Bank of Beirut, number of these deposits, rationale behind the renewal of these deposits and guarantees provided by the banks. He pointed out the State Audit Bureau (SAB) mentioned in its report that France Bank in Lebanon rejected the request of PIFSS to get the deposit amounting to $347 million once the two-year term ends, reason why the bank refused to return the deposit to PIFSS, measures taken to get the money, why the deposit was renewed even if the bank refused to return the money and even if the Lebanese economy is volatile, why no step has been taken to coordinate with the Central Bank of Lebanon regarding the refusal of France Bank to return the deposit, why the ministry approved the deposit in 2018 and if there is a Lebanese, Kuwaiti or foreign broker behind the deal.

MP Abdullah Al-Turaiji has forwarded queries to Minister of Information and Culture and Minister of State for Youth Affairs Abdulrahman Badah Al-Mutairi about some officials who refrained from issuing full time certificates to professional athletes in violation of law number 87/2017. He inquired if any report on such violations has been submitted to the Council of Ministers. If yes, he requested for copies of the reports. If no, he wants to know the reason for protecting these officials who do not respect the law. By Saeed Mahmoud Saleh Arab Times Staff

This news has been read 20741 times!

Related Articles

Back to top button

Advt Blocker Detected

Kindly disable the Ad blocker

Verified by MonsterInsights