KUWAIT: Central Bank Governor Saad Al-Hashel yesterday refused to provide the National Assembly probe panel information or documents about former MPs who have been accused of receiving illegal funds into their bank accounts. Head of the committee MP Musallam Al-Barrak regretted that the governor and his aides refused to provide the documents that the panel had demanded, saying they are not immune and their rejection is not in line with the constitution or the law.
The panel was formed in mid-March by the Assembly to investigate allegations that around KD 100 million was illegally deposited into the accounts of 13 former MPs, a scandal that led to the resignation of former prime minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah last November. Barrak said Central Bank officials refused to provide the committee with the amount of cash deposited into the accounts of members of the previous Assembly and the Cabinet in addition to their close relatives without giving their names. The committee wanted to establish if the bank accounts of some former MPs had received huge illegal deposits. Barrak also said that the Central Bank refused to provide copies of the correspondence between the Central Bank and local banks regarding the illegal deposits.
Last year, the public prosecution launched an investigation into the allegations and questioned 13 former MPs. They are all free on bail pending further investigation. Barrak accused the Central Bank governor of trying to protect those who violate the law, saying that the committee will hold a meeting next week to determine how to deal with the governor and called on the government to shoulder its responsibility.
In another development, the court of misdemeanours yesterday acquitted five officers from the special forces of charges of beating MP Obaid Al-Wasmi during a public rally in December 2010. The court said that the officers were exercising orders they had received from their commanders who were implementing instructions by HH the Amir to prevent rallies outside homes or diwaniyas. Wasmi however reacted angrily to the ruling, sharply criticizing the verdict and insisting that it was not in line with Kuwaiti law. Wasmi said that he respects the law and all verdicts issued on its basis but "this one is not a verdict and cannot be an implementation of the law. In brief, I will not accept a judiciary that issues verdicts in this way".
Also, 13 Kuwaiti MPs, most of them Islamists, yesterday appealed to Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz to take the necessary measures to rescue the Syrian people from the bloody crackdown of the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad.
© Kuwait Times 2012
