Saleh Ashour did not provide details about his surprising declaration or the reasons for his planned move, especially that he is one of the 13 former and present MPs implicated in the corruption scandal.
The lawmaker, who was interrogated by the public prosecution in connection with the scandal ahead of the Feb 2 general election, did not give a specific date for the grilling, but insisted it will be filed “very soon”.
In a related development, the government used its constitutional right to delay for two weeks the formation of two investigation committees into the illegal banking deposits and the smuggling of diesel.
The two separate requests were submitted by the opposition bloc which controls the majority in the Assembly, but the deputy premier and foreign minister demanded that the issue be postponed for two weeks and the speaker agreed based on the internal charter.
In the first request, the opposition demanded the formation of a five-member investigation committee with extensive powers to probe the illegal deposits scandal in which millions of dinars were allegedly deposited into the bank accounts of two present and 11 former MPs.
The request specifically asked the committee to question former prime minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, former governor of the Central Bank Sheikh Salem Abdulaziz Al- Sabah and Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shamali among many others.
The second request called for asking the Assembly’s public funds protection committee to investigate allegation of widespread smuggling of heavily-subsidized diesel. The opposition MPs said the request is based on a report by the interior ministry about three years ago to the oil ministry that subsidized diesel worth $ 2.5 million was being smuggled daily out of the country.
It added that the government formed an investigation committee and the oil ministry formed a technical probe panel and both did not reach any conclusion on the issue, and accordingly the Assembly should be allowed to conduct its own probe over the sensitive issue.
A request for a third investigation committee on allegations that the former premier transferred public funds into his own overseas bank accounts did not come up for discussion as the session was adjourned for today. Opposition MPs want a detailed and thorough investigation to establish who ordered the transfers and why and the amount of the transfers.
The deposits scandal and money transfers issue ignited youth-led street protests late last year that eventually forced the former prime minister to resign in late November.
The Amir later dissolved the Assembly and snap elections were held in which the opposition scored an impressive victory. The session got off to a rocky start when a number of Shiite MPs and their supporters objected to the speech delivered by Islamist MP Khaled Al-Sultan, being the oldest member, at the inaugural session which was opened by HH the Amir.
In the speech, Sultan strongly blasted the Syrian regime and Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad for the massacres against Syrian people, and also called for abolishing of bank interest for being un- Islamic.
MP Abdulhameed Dashti said the speech does not represent him and because Sultan spoke about foreign policy, he embarrassed the Amir and the state of Kuwait.
That ignited a fiery response from Islamist MPs who said the speech echoed the sentiment of the overwhelming majority of the Kuwaiti people, and strongly lashed out at the Syrian regime and its barbaric slaughter of civilians.
During the session, the Assembly also elected a number of temporary committees which were dominated by the opposition.
These include committees for human rights, bedoons, women’s affairs, a panel for environment and nuclear energy, a panel for agriculture and others.
The Assembly is scheduled to debate the Syrian issue today and start comments on the Amiri address delivered at the opening session.
