Kuwait Finance Minister Nayef Al Hajref is to be grilled at the National Assembly over alleged financial violations.
MPs Riyadh Al Adasani and Bader Al Mulla have filed to question the Finance Minister, claiming that the financial irregularities cost the state billions of dollars.
Acting Speaker Issa Al Kundari said the questioning would be listed on the agenda of June 11 session for debate unless the minister requests a delay.
The MPs cited lack of control over state budget which prevented reforms, harming the rights of pensioners through the mismanagement of the funds of the social security authority and incurring heavy losses in Kuwaiti investments overseas because of unwise investment policies.
They claimed that the Finance Ministry or the Kuwait Investment Authority, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, and other institutions under the ministry have lost billions of dollars either in bad investment decisions or through mismanagement and wrongdoing.
They said that KIA invested some 600 million euros in French nuclear company Areva and after a few years, the investment was sold for just 83 million euros, incurring a loss of 517 million euros.
They pointed out that one of the companies under the Finance Ministry, Touristic Enterprises Co, has lost around KD290 million through mysterious decisions and actions that the ministry has failed to discover.
They claimed that the KIA incurred some $468 million in losses from the bankruptcy of several companies in which it held various stakes.
The KIA and other establishments lost compensation claims worth hundreds of millions of dollars in legal disputes with several countries.
The social security agency allegedly lost some $190 million from a $200 million investment in Everest Capital Global Fund while KIA lost some $300 million from bad investments in several international investment funds.
The ministry resorted to borrowing from international and domestic markets to the tune of $8 billion while at the same time, government deposits at the central bank exceeded KD9 billion and profits held by some government establishments like KPC were more than KD20 billion.
These should have been transferred to state coffers. In addition, the government has failed to collect more than KD1.34 billion in uncollected revenue and charges on public services.