Nasser Al-Khorafi launches volley against Al-Barrak

• Text size
•  
•  

KUWAIT: Nasser Al-Khorafi, the chairman of Al-Khorafi group of companies, insisted on Sunday that the sanitary water treatment project had not cost the government anything, reported Al-Anba.

The group carried out this project on the basis of a BOT system and we have saved the state millions of dinars," he asserted.

Responding to earlier criticism by MP Musallam Al-Barrak, Al-Khorafi said, "Firstly, your attempts to show the achievements we attained for Kuwait as fewer than they were is wrong; it is not you who evaluates these achievements. You have entered the Guinness Book of Records for demolition, which is your specialty, rather than for building, which is the ambition of the Kuwaiti people.

The company chairman continued, "I didn't really went to reminisce and show off about things that I have done for Kuwait and the Kuwaiti people. But you have tried, as usual, to mislead people and give them misinformation other than the truth, and play with people's minds. Therefore we have stood up to you and stopped you and given you some examples as a challenge. You have tried to show that what we have done is of no value; you tried to show that the role of our late father during the time of his chairmanship of NBKNBK was unimportant, by saying that he was not the decision maker at that time, saying that it was the decision of shareholders - this is another lie of yours, and shows your ignorance in the system and the roles of companies.

The chairman is the one who represents the bank, and he is the decision maker along with the board of directors - they run the bank and take decisions for the sake of the bank and the shareholders. He took his decisions with the help of Kuwaitis through the London branch, which gave money to the accountholders, because he was sure that Kuwait would be liberated. No bank in the world could have done what NBKNBK did during those days, and no one denies the sincerity of my late father and his love for Kuwait and its people - and he needs no endorsement from you or anybody like you. You attempted to simplify the humanitarian work that the group did during the invasion by saying that we offered sandwiches to people through our restaurants.

I don't blame you for this simplicity and it seems that you are used to fancy foods, although you always claim that you are a defender of the working class. Kuwaiti people did not care for the quality of food but about liberating their country. We never heard your voice during the invasion and we don't know where were you at that time!

Al-Khorafi went on, "Secondly, on the subject of giving three choices regarding our talks about violations, I warned you then not to ask me about it because it is in your chest. I repeat it today - either you are ignorant or pretending to be so. The Kuwaiti people know your double standards. My brother Jassem is the National Assembly Speaker and he is known for being nonpartisan. He plays a major role in cooling matters and avoiding crisis.

The company chairman continued, "Thirdly, regarding whether our projects were charity or business, my answer is that I do not need your thanks. If we take in return for our work, we do takes as per the contract at that time. We have never thought of the returns, we made no condition when we participated in fighting the fires in the oil fields, we performed our duty immediately, never thinking at that time of the returns, but we managed to extinguish the blazes.

Regarding the sanitary water treatment project, we have done that on a BOT basis and the government paid nothing; we have saved the government hundreds of millions of dinars. This kind of work did not get your approval and you have amended the law due to hostility from your side and investors have rejected it. The big loser here is the state and the citizens. If you are proud that you have stopped projects, the Kuwaiti people would like you to solve outstanding housing issues and to issue laws that are good for building hospitals and universities in a limited time span. So why do you concentrate on demolishing and ignore building?!

Concluding his address to the MP, Al-Khorafi said, "Fourthly, what you've said about our projects, indicates that you know nothing about economics; what we do can move the wheel of the economy, including the commercial complex, apartments and the cooperatives, which bring good thing to all citizens. I would request that you stay away from the economy because you are totally ignorant of economics; please concentrate on the workers' union and don't pretend that you are Adam Smith in economics.

© Kuwait Times 2009