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May 02 2012

Probe panel to hear premier's testimony - Panel finalises blasphemy law

By B Izaak KUWAIT: The National Assembly panel probing allegations over illegal money transfers has summoned Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah to its next meeting on Saturday, head of the committee MP Faisal Al-Mislem said. The committee, formed by the assembly in March, is investigating claims that former prime minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah has transferred millions of dinars of public funds into his private bank accounts overseas.

Sheikh Jaber will be the highest official to testify before the panel which has powers to summon any official for investigations on issues related to the transfers. So far, the committee has heard the testimony of dozens of ministers, officials, bankers and others including the foreign and finance ministers and the former and present governors of the Central Bank. It has also heard the testimony of Kuwaiti envoys to Britain, Switzerland and the United States where the funds, estimated at KD 77 million, had been transferred at the instructions of senior officials of the previous government.

The committee plans to summon the former prime minister at a later date to inquire about his role in the transfers and where the funds went. Last week, head of the independent accounting watchdog - the Audit Bureau - Abdulaziz Al-Adasani declined a similar summons under the pretext that the bureau has been asked by the government to investigate the issue. But Mislem and opposition MP Musallam Al-Barrak strongly criticized Adasani, saying his action amounted to disrespect for the Assembly and called for dismissing him from his job. Pro-government MP Nabeel Al-Fadl meanwhile slammed the two MPs saying that they have no power to dismiss Adasani and criticized the two parliamentary investigation panels as "unconstitutional".

The Assembly's legal and legislative committee meanwhile yesterday completed the final revision of a law that stipulates the death penalty for blasphemy, rapporteur of the panel MP Mohammad Al-Dallal said. The law was passed in the first round by the Assembly about three weeks ago and is intended to specifically punish those who insult God, prophets, wives of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and some of his companions. The Assembly is scheduled to hold a special session tomorrow to discuss the law and pass it in the second round despite stiff opposition from liberal and Shiite MPs.

In another development, MP Mohammad Al-Juwaihel - who has filed to grill the interior minister over his failure to clamp down on holders of dual citizenships - claimed yesterday that "some MPs who hold a dual nationality offered to support the grilling if their names were not mentioned". Juwaihel, who has launched a campaign against Kuwaitis who hold a second nationality, made dual citizenship as the main issue in his grilling expected to be debated next week.

The lawmaker gave no names of the MPs whom he claimed hold a second citizenship, which is forbidden under Kuwaiti law. Juwaihel said that he may add another issue to his grilling about the alleged mistreatment of Kuwaiti Shiites who visit Shiite holy sites in Iraq. He said that such visitors are made to sign an undertaking that they are responsible for whatever happens to them in Iraq and that the government is not responsible.

© Kuwait Times 2012

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