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| Arabia | |
| MPs call on Kuwait deputy PM to quit | |
| 2005-04-12 | |
Parliament in December ordered the Audit Bureau, the state's accounting watchdog, to investigate allegations that Sharar was to blame for squandering hundreds of millions of dollars of public funds. The charges were made during a questioning by liberal MPs Ahmad Al Mulaifi and Ali Al Rashed who claimed the minister had either taken part in alleged graft or failed to stop corruption in departments under his authority. In its report, the Audit Bureau confirmed a number of the claims and complained that it did not receive enough cooperation from some government agencies. "The report confirms our claims ... I call on the minister to act in a brave manner, take responsibility and quit," Rashed told yesterday's special session held to discuss the report. "This is an historic opportunity to declare war on corruption ... The minister should be held accountable and I advise him to resign, it's time to leave," MP Waleed Al Tabtabai said. But Sharar told the house he had already sent parts of the report to the public prosecution to launch a criminal investigation into the allegations. MPs backing Sharar accused his opponents of targeting the minister for personal reasons and because he "belongs to Kuwaiti tribes." Sharar comfortably survived a no-confidence vote following similar questioning in March 2003. But Health Minister Mohammad Al Jarallah resigned last week after facing a stormy grilling in parliament over allegations of graft, in the third such case in two years. Under the no-confidence motion filed by the lawmakers, the minister has two weeks to resign before the 50-man house meets to vote on whether he should stay. Jarallah was questioned by an MP over allegations of mismanagement, squandering public funds and the deterioration of health services. Former finance minister Mahmoud Al Nuri narrowly survived a no-confidence vote in March 2004, a serious challenge to the government which took power in 2003 in the state. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 I knew, just from the headline, that he wasn't named Al Sabah. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-04-12 8:26:09 AM |