Allegations were made that between 2006 and late 2011, former prime minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah transferred millions of dinars from public funds into his private bank accounts overseas.
The transfers were allegedly made through the Central Bank, Kuwait Investment Authority and the foreign ministry and the amounts transferred are not known.
The previous government had maintained that the former prime minister had repaid all the amounts to public coffers.
The investigation committee formed to probe the issue last month heard the testimony of KIA director general Bader Al-Saad as the financial undersecretary at the prime minister’s office Khaled Al-Bannai did not attend.
Muslim said Bannai will be questioned over his role at a meeting tomorrow, while Bannai said yesterday that he did not receive an invitation to the meeting. Mislem meanwhile insisted that the invitation was sent out by the Assembly on Feb 28 and reached the premier’s office the following day.
The lawmaker said the committee is scheduled to meet former foreign minister Sheikh Mohammad Al-Sabah, who resigned last October over the issue, next Sunday. The committee will also meet with Kuwaiti envoys in Geneva, London and New York next Monday. The three envoys were mentioned as being involved in the transfers.
In another probe, the interior and defense committee yesterday met two senior officials over alleged violations by the detectives’ force, head of the panel MP Salem Al-Namlan said.
The committee is scheduled to meet Interior Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud Al-Sabah to complete the investigation on the same issue. Moves to grill the interior minister by a number of the “majority” MPs was gaining momentum yesterday as MP Mislem said the Islamist Development and Reform Bloc was due to meet late yesterday to discuss the proposed grilling.
MPs are upset over the behaviour of the interior ministry over the arrest of activist Nahar Al-Hajeri for allegedly burning the Iranian flag at a rally last week. Hajeri was arrested on Thursday and on Sunday his detention was extended for 21 days pending investigation and trial. If the majority alliance agrees to support the grilling, it could lead to voting him out of office.
Activists and supporters of Hajeri were due to stage a rally outside the headquarters of the State Security Department in South Surra over the arrest of the activist. MP Khaled Al-Hajeri meanwhile called for speeding up the approval of amendments to the law that would considerably reduce the duration of preventive detention from 21 to just seven days.
Meanwhile, liberal MP Mohammad Al-Sager yesterday proposed amendments to the constitutional court law, that if approved would allow nongovernmental societies to submit petitions directly before the court.
Under the law, only the government, the National Assembly or other courts can file or refer cases to the constitutional court. The amendments submitted by Sager state that NGOs should be allowed to submit petitions to the constitutional court against laws seen as breaching the constitution.
Also, Islamist MP Waleed Al-Tabtabaei yesterday criticized statements by Sheikha Fareeha Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, a senior member of the ruling family, that she would continue to fight until Armenian Christians are allowed to build a church in Kuwait.
Tabatabaei said that during the fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Armenian forces ransacked several mosques and accordingly, they should not be rewarded for such a crime.
