Ashour told reporters that the grilling will be based on four issues, topped by the corruption scandal involving 12 former MPs and Ashour himself and allegations of former Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah. The third issue relates to allegations of maltreatment of religious Shiite leaders at Kuwait Airport and certain border posts, especially Shiite pilgrims returning from Iraqi religious sites through Abdali border post.
Ashour declined to reveal the fourth issue, saying he is still preparing it, but insisted he will file the grilling tomorrow and asked the Opposition, which now controls a majority in the Assembly, to respect his move. In a quick response, Opposition MP Mussallam Al-Barrak said the Opposition will not deal with the Ashour grilling like supporters of the former Prime Minister dealt with Opposition grillings against him, but will respect the move and study it.
The two corruption scandals triggered huge street protests late last year. They eventually forced the previous Government to resign, and led to the Amir dissolving the previous Assembly and holding snap polls in February The banking deposit scandal was exposed in August last year. Ahead of the general elections, the Public Prosecution Department interrogated 12 former MPs, and Ashour himself, over suspicions that their bank accounts accepted millions of dinars in illegal deposits.
The Opposition estimated the deposits at around KD100 million. They claimed that they were in the form of political bribes to win the votes of former MPs on key issues in the assembly. Ashour was also interrogated by the Public Prosecution Department. He obtained release on bail, but he refused to pay and was detained at the State Security department for two days until he paid and was released. He was the only former MP implicated in the allegations to be re-elected. The other 12 either did not contest or lost the elections.
It is important to note that Ashour did not support a similar grilling over the same issue submitted by three opposition MPs against the former Prime Minister and was not debated because he resigned. Ashour was a staunch supporter of the former Prime Minister.
The second corruption issue is the alleged money transfers made by the former Prime Minister from public funds into his own foreign bank accounts during the past six years. MP Al-Barrak claimed the transfers could be worth up to $ 800 million. The Opposition filed two requests to form two parliamentary investigation committees to probe the truth about the two corruption issues, but the Government used its constitutional right to delay the formation for two weeks.
The two committees will be given expanded powers to question any person and specifically the former Prime Minister, Governor of the Central Bank and Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shamali who came under fire from the Opposition. MPs Al-Barrak and Abdulrahman Al-Anjari warned that Al-Shamali will be grilled shortly over allegations of corruption in a number of government departments under his authority. The Opposition has the strength to vote any minister and the Prime Minister out of office in a no-confidence vote.
