Sheikh Mohammad, no point

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WHEN corruption spreads throughout a country and oversight agencies are unable to curb it, there is no solution other than cauterization, especially when the law is full of loopholes that lawyers take advantage of for the benefit of the accused.

Today with the revelation of facts regarding many deals that were concluded behind the scenes, rendering institutions helpless in the face of them, it is necessary to deviate from the norm, like the way it happened in several neighboring countries, so that those who portray themselves as above-accountability become aware of themselves.

I remember in 2001, information was received by the late Sultan Qaboos bin Said about corruption in one of the Omani authorities. He immediately ordered the punishment of those responsible, which led to the imprisonment of more than 20 government officials and prominent bankers on charges of embezzlement.

The state recovered hundreds of millions of riyals that these people had obtained illegally. It took strict measures, which straightened out the financial cycle in the Sultanate.

Also in the same year, when Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid came to know that about 30 officials had committed corruption during the urban boom in the emirate of Dubai, he immediately worked to arrest them and collect tens of millions of Emirati dirhams.

The leaders of those countries had no other path, because the crime was organized in such a way that it could not be discovered according to normal procedures. The methods followed were to bend the law to the benefit of the corrupt.

The same thing happened in Saudi Arabia when King Salman bin Abdulaziz assumed power. He saw that there was wastage in state institutions, and that the costs of the projects were very large.

Therefore, his Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered that measures be taken quickly to stop tampering with public funds.

In this regard, we all know that the Crown Prince was working that day to host more than 87 defendants, including princes and businessmen. After three months, the government recovered about 400 billion Saudi riyals.

The outcome was then equivalent to the state’s general budget. Reform measures were taken, and the cost of projects decreased by about two times after getting rid of the corruption.

Now we beg to ask – What happened in Kuwait? Were 14 oversight and inspection agencies able to stop corruption, or were most of them subjugated to serve the corrupt?

The answer is in what was published in the newspapers yesterday about ministers and leaders involved in the “Caracal” and “Eurofighter” contracts. This is one of a series of scandals that affected sovereign funds, in addition to an organized “looting” of public money, which indicates the extent of the disdain for the state as a whole, and not just institutions.

Therefore, if we compare the rate of corruption in Kuwait to this scourge on a global level, our country would rank first, because the matter has reached the extent of all-out plundering, while some were held accountable selectively, which indicated that it was a matter of settling of scores, and not a reform approach.

In this regard, it would be good if the National Assembly approved, after a lot of effort, the abolition of the local agent, but that is not enough, because whoever leaves the door can return through the window.

We therefore have been calling for years for a firm decision that changes the equations, and for there to be a man’s stance. Perhaps Sheikh Mohammad Sabah Al-Salem will be this man, as he is well-known for his fight against corruption.

There is no other treatment left for this widespread disease of corruption apart from cauterization.

By Ahmed Al-Jarallah

Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times

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