Two opposition MPs on Tuesday filed to question the Kuwaiti premier in parliament over allegations of squandering public funds and financial and administrative irregularities. The move came just two days after Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammed al-Ahmad al-Sabah, a nephew of the ruler, formed his new cabinet which was strongly criticised by opposition lawmakers.
Veteran opposition MP Ahmad al-Saadun, a nationalist, and liberal lawmaker Abdulrahman al-Anjari filed the questioning request, claiming the premier is responsible for squandering public funds and hindering the development plan. They charged that the state lost over $500 million in an investment given by the government to a private Kuwaiti investor and held the premier responsible for the loss because he ignored repeated warnings on the matter.
Sheikh Nasser, 71, was also accused of failing to safeguard public funds at Kuwait’s leading telecommunication firm Zain, in which the state holds a stake of 24.6 percent, and at the state-run pension agency. Zain’s budget included $1.2 billion as “transaction costs” for the sale of its African assets to India’s Bharti Airtel for $10.7 billion which is excessive while the government took no action, the two MPs claimed.
