Sector continues to study files of co-ops; warns of corruption

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Violations suspected in form of profiteering, monopoly

KUWAIT CITY, May 23: While the Ministry of Community Affairs and Development represented by the Cooperatives Sector continued to study the files of cooperative societies, it warned of financial and administrative violations that were recently discovered, reports Al-Qabas daily.

Senior sources told the daily the suspicions of violations are in the form of profiteering, monopoly and infringements on public money in some cooperatives, as well as manipulation during recruitment of workers. In the same context, the cooperatives sector received on May 18 a report on the accounts of the Abu Fatira Cooperative Society from a committee that was formed to review the business and accounts. The report concluded that there were 39 financial and administrative violations and suspicions of profiteering, monopoly and disbursement of public funds without formal approvals.

According to the report, of which Al-Qabas obtained a copy, the financial violations observed by the co-ops sector involves about 434,000 dinars, distributed over expenditures or contracts that were signed without official approvals or suspicions of profit and monopoly in exchange for some benefits. The report pointed out that the committee revealed a lack of commitment to the staff and work contracts concluded with the employees in the association, as there was a difference in the work contract and the salary transferred to the employee from the association, which causes damage to the association in the event of a labor lawsuit filed against it, as the differences between work permits and salaries transferred up to 5300 dinars per month.

Report
The report added it was noticed that marginal workers were hired in some sections of the association in numbers that exceed the needs of the departments, especially the shareholders, purchases, receiving departments in addition to waste of additional spending on employees. It was noted that there was a deficit or purchase invoices were tampered with in the amount of 468 thousand dinars, in addition to the suspicion of manipulations in the point-of-sale data for some companies and a difference in the electronic clearance of some suppliers.

Meanwhile, the Director of the Charity Societies and Charity Associations Department at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Community Development, Abdulaziz Al-Ajmi, stressed the importance of obtaining prior approvals from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to organize campaigns to provide aid to overseas societies which should be done in cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). This came during a meeting with the representative of the UNHCR, Nasreen Rabiean. Al-Ajmi pointed out the importance of cooperation between the UNHCR and the Commission directly, if the matter is one of the missions of the UNHCR, but cooperation with associations requires the approval of the ministries of Foreign Affairs and Social Affairs.

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