ARAB TIMES, MONDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2011
LOCAL 2
‘MPs attending opposition
rallies received govt bribes’
Panel discusses anti-corruption draft bill
By Abubakar A. Ibrahim
Arab Times Staff
KUWAIT CITY, Oct
Photos by Mahmoud Jadeed
16: Several lawmakers,
Top: Labor inspectors pose for a picture and (above) inside the Acting Undersecretary’s office. including some veter-
ans who participated in
Labor inspectors invade officer’s cabin the opposition rallies at
the Erada Square, have
Many labor inspectors from the Ministry of demonstrators forced entry to the office received bribes from
Social Affairs and Labor invaded the office and they criticized the Minister of Social the government and
of the ministry’s Acting Undersecretary Affairs and Labor for failure to fulfill promis- other countries, MP
Hamad Al-Medhadi during a demonstration es he made on approving increments for Saadoun Hammad Al-
Sunday morning and threatened to expose the various categories of labor employees,
scandalous activities in which the ministry’s indicating they are subjected to many prob- Otaibi disclosed at a
undersecretaries are allegedly involved. lems when the Interior Ministry asks them press conference in the
Al-Medhadi was not present when the to visit locations for inspection. Parliament Sunday.
Al-Otaibi said he will
disclose new details on the
KUNA photo
MPs involved in the His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah met at Seif Palace Sunday
bribery scandal at the Minister of Electricity and Water and Acting Minister of Information and Communications Salem Al-Uthayna. During the
opening of the next legisla- meeting, the minister introduced newly appointed undersecretary of the Ministry of Information Sheikh Salman
tive round. He also refuted Al-Humoud Al-Sabah to HH the Premier. (KUNA)
rumors that he had been
referred to the Public
Prosecution for his alleged
involvement in the scam.
Kuwait Today
He accused the administra-
tor of an undisclosed web- Prayer Timings
site of spreading the deaths
Fajr ...................................................04:31 am
rumors to cover up his Sunrise ...................................................05:50
misdeeds. He claimed the Zohr ........................................................11:33
Amina Abdullah Ahmad Al-Jasem, 82 years years old, widow of Mitlaq Eid Meleth Al-Dehani,
website administrator was old, widow of Mohammad Ismail Malallah, buried on Sunday. Condolences: (Men) Sabah
Asr................................................... 02:49 pm buried on Sunday. Condolences:(Men) Surra, Al-Nasser, Block 1, St 28, House 47, Tel:
actually referred to the Maghreb .................................................05:16 Block 4, St 10, House 11, Tel: 99757779. 99444926. (Women) Sabah Al-Nasser, Block 5,
prosecution, pointing out Isha ........................................................06.33 (Women) Shamiya, Block 7, St 72, House 15, St 38, House 30. Fatima Ali Reda, 74 years old,
he was the first lawmaker Weather Tel: 99522487. Majed Mefrij Barjes Al-Dosari, widow of Mohammad Hajiya Al Kharji, to be
22 years old, buried on Sunday. Condolences: buried on Monday after Asr prayers.
to disclose his financial Expected weather for the next 24 hours: (Men) Umm Al-Haiman, Block 4, St 30, House Condolences: (Men) Bayan, Block 11, St 1,
statements at the By night: Fair with light variable wind 25, Tel: 99447040. (Women) Dahiyat Sabah Al- Avenue 6, House 3, Tel: 25386473-99070932.
Parliament in 2003. He changing to light to moderate north westerly Salem, Block 9, St 4, Avenue 5, House 44, Tel: (Women) Doha, Block 1, St 3, House 39, Tel:
wind, with speed of 06-26 km/h.
even published the state- By day: Relatively hot with light variable 99757100. Refa Helail Abdullah Al-Mutairi, 81 24871232.
ments on a website for the wind changing light to moderate north easter-
ly wind, with speed of 06-26 km/h.
public to see all the details. Station Max Min Oct 16, 2011
Stressing the need to imple- Rec Exp
ment the assets declaration Kuwait City 39 25
Kuwait Airport 40 21 Beacon N6 35 25 - 3ft NW Max temp ....................................................39
bill retroactively starting from Nuwaiseeb 39 24 Umm Al-Maradem 34 29 - 3ft NW Min temp .....................................................20
1975, Al-Otaibi alleged two Wafra 42 22 Sea island buoy 32 29 29 3ft NW Max Rh.....................................................69%
of the incumbent lawmakers Salmi 38 23 Salmiyah 36 28 - 3ft NW Min Rh......................................................09%
were also part of the 1975 Abdaly 41 23 Julaia Port 35 24 - 3ft NW Max Wind ....................................NW 21 km/h
Jalaliyah 40 22 Total Rainfall in 24 hr ...........................00 mm
Parliament and one of them Failaka 40 24 Tide times at Shuwaikh Port
used to be an ordinary Ahmadi Port 35 27 Recorded yesterday at South
1st high tide:...........................................01:30
employee but his wealth has Umm Al-Maradem 34 29
2nd high tide ..........................................15:45 Dolphin
accumulated to billions of Warba-Bubiyan 38 20
1st low tide: ............................................20:15 Min/Max/ Air Temp..............................27/38 C
dinars. He said this particular Marine Forecast 2nd low tide:...........................................08:45 Min/Max Rel Hum ...............................13/70%
MP, who became the leader of Station Max Min Sea Today’s Sunrise: ..................................................05:50 Wind Direction/Wind Speed ..........N/19 km/h
Exp Rec Surf Waves Sunset: ...................................................17:17 Prev Wave Dir/Max Wave Ht..................N/4 ft
a parliamentary bloc, received Ht Direction Min/Max Sea Surface Temp ...............27/28 C
land worth more than KD 100 South Dolphin 36 27 27 3ft NW Recorded yesterday at Kuwait Sea Current .....................................Upwelling
million and oil projects esti- Ahmadi L/V 33 31 32 3ft NW - Directorate General of Civil Aviation,
mated at a billion dinars from Beacon M28 36 27 28 3ft NW Airport Meteorological Dept.
the ruler of a Gulf nation,
which owns a satellite chan-
nel that had repeatedly insult-
ed Kuwait.
“Some MPs, who attended
the rallies at the Erada
Square, have accused their
colleagues of receiving
bribes, yet one of them was
the first to collect a cheque -
the copy of which was shown
in a parliamentary session
earlier. At the beginning, he
denied receiving the cheque,
saying it was issued to a char-
ity organization but when the
copy was presented in the ses-
sion, his name was written on
it. He tried to violate the law
as he established a charity
foundation, along with his
brothers, and collected KD 3
million. I have all the docu-
ments to support my claim,”
Al-Otaibi added.
Revealed
Al-Otaibi revealed another
MP received KD 500,000 from
the government during the
invasion. He initially asked for
KD 10 million but the govern-
ment refused due to the crisis
the country was facing at the
time. He pointed out that on the
contrary, the late Khalid Al-
Marzouq, a prominent Kuwaiti
personality, donated KD 200
million to Kuwait, affirming he
will present documents to
prove his statement in the open-
ing session of the next legisla-
tive round. He underscored the
importance of enforcing the
assets declaration bill retroac-
tively, because all the MPs have
been suspected of taking
bribes.
The lawmaker attributed
the ongoing conflicts among
parliamentarians to the
announcement of Speaker
Jassem Al-Khorafi that he has
no intention to run in the next
elections. “These people have
been calling for the dissolu-
tion of the Parliament to take
the speaker post but we will
convince Al-Khorafi to par-
ticipate in the elections. We
will not allow them to prevail
in the legislature,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Legal and
Legislative Affairs Committee
at the Parliament discussed the
anti-corruption and anti-money
laundering draft bills with the
government’s representatives
on Sunday.
Speaking to reporters after
the meeting, Committee
Chairman MP Hussein Al-
Huraiti admitted the panel has
yet to finalize deliberations on
the bills, so they agreed to
meet again on Tuesday to dis-
cuss the proposals with the
Higher Judicial Council rep-
resentatives, who apologized
for their absence in Sunday’s
meeting because they were
busy with the Constitutional
Court hearing.