Nod to agreements with foreign states – MPs stage sit-in

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KUWAIT CITY, Feb 7: The National Assembly unanimously approved nine agreements between the governments of Kuwait and friendly countries as well as a European body, an organization and world conference in the first and second deliberations during its ordinary session on Wednesday. All 40 members voted in favor of the agreements in the first deliberation and all 41 members voted in favor during the second deliberation.

This came after the Foreign Affairs Committee completed its reports on the nine agreements as follows:

■ Agreement with Kyrgyz Republic on encouraging and mutual protection of investments.

■ Agreement with the Republic of Armenia on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters.

■ Cooperation between the government of the State of Kuwait (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and European External Action Organization.

■ Protocol to amend the agreement on establishing the World Trade Organization which was approved through Law No. 81/1995.

■ Paris Climate Change Agreement

■ Protocol to amend an agreement between the governments of the State of Kuwait and Republic of India on preventing double taxation and tax evasion.

■ Protocol to amend an agreement between the governments of the State of Kuwait and Brunei- Darussalam on preventing double taxation and tax evasion.

■ Final documents of the World Telecommunication Conference (Dubai 2012)

■ Final documents of the World Radio Communication Conference in Geneva Furthermore, the Parliament decided to refer to the Public Prosecution the Budgets and Final Accounts Committee’s report on the expenses of the Ministry of Interior (hospitality, parties, gifts and trips) for fiscals 2014/2015 and 2015/2016.

Based on the findings of the State Audit Bureau (SAB) and Investigation Committee at the Ministry of Interior regarding the alleged administrative and financial violations, the committee presented the following recommendations:

■ The government must refer all related reports and documents, specifying the responsibilities of all concerned bodies (governmental and non-governmental) in relation to the supposed wastage or misappropriation of public funds to the Public Prosecution.

■ Each government body should take disciplinary action against those behind the administrative irregularities mentioned in the abovementioned reports.

■ The government should submit to the Parliament a report on the implementation of these recommendations every six months.

The committee explained that its recommendation to refer the issue to the prosecution is the same as that of SAB and the Investigation Committee at the ministry. Deputy Speaker Issa Al-Kandari, adjourned the session until Feb 13, 2018 to discuss the Army law.

In another development, 15 MPs staged a sit-in at the Parliament building after Wednesday’s session in solidarity with their colleagues who are in prison for storming the legislative building.

The protestors displayed pictures of MPs Waleed Al-Tabtabaei, Jaman Al- Harbash and Muhammad Al-Mutair (currently in the United States) while calling for the release of prisoners and ending the case. The protestors included MPs Riyadh Al-Adsani, Abdul-Kareem Al- Kandari, Shuaib Al-Muwaizrii, Mohammad Hayef, Mubarak Al-Hajraf, Mohammed Al-Dalal, Omar Al-Tabtabaei, Khaled Al-Otaibi, Nayef Al- Mirdas, Osama Al-Shaheen, Abdul Wahab Al-Babtain, Abdullah Fahad, Al-Humaidi Al-Subaie, Hamdan Al- Azmi and Adel Al-Damkhi

By Abubakar A. Ibrahim Arab Times Staff

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