Kuwait, Oct 3(Kuwait Times): Opposition groups yesterday geared up for their second anti-corruption rally scheduled for Wednesday as they urged their supporters to attend the gathering in large numbers to press for action. The National Assembly legal and legislative committee meanwhile delayed its scheduled discussion of a large number of anti-corruption draft laws in order to wait for the government-sponsored draft law for combating corruption.
Three liberal groups, the National Democratic Alliance, the Democratic Forum and the Progressive Movement and an alliance of several opposition and student groups under a unified title known as Nahaj in a joined statement called for their supporters to attend the second rally in the wake of the corruption scandal involving more than a dozen MPs. The rally will be held opposite the National Assembly in a bid to press for action against MPs who received millions of dinars in bribes and also against those who
paid the money to them.
The statement said that the Kuwaiti people should shoulder its responsibility to send a strong message of rejection to such practices which have undermined and tarnished the image of democracy and the country as a whole. The statement called for a serious investigation into the scandal and for approving draft laws to combat corruption in the country. But the legal and legislative panel yesterday postponed until next week a scheduled discussion of about 17 anti-corruption draft laws submitted by MPs, and meetings of the panel on the issue have been denied several times.
Rapporteur of the panel MP Maasouma Al-Mubarak said the decision to delay the discussion was because the government representative informed MPs that a comprehensive anti-corruption draft law will be submitted later this week. Mubarak said the committee will now discuss all the draft laws together next Sunday. The government-sponsored anti-corruption draft law was criticized by some MPs because the wealth disclosure bill in it does not have a retroactive effect.
Islamist MP Faisal Al-Muslim in the meantime announced that the opposition will file its grilling of the prime minister on October 13 as the opposition waited for the final word from the liberal Popular Action Bloc on whether it will support the grilling or not. The support of the six-member National Bloc is crucial for the success of any potential non-cooperation motion as without the backing of their six MPs, any such motion is doomed to failure. Deputy speaker Abdullah AL-Roumi also said that corruption
in Kuwait has reached a very serious level that needed an all-out effort to combat it.
In the meantime, Islamist MP Jamaan Al-Harbash vehemently denied that his bank account has been referred to the public prosecution for investigation over suspicious deposits as reported in an electronic website. Harbash said he has started procedures to file a lawsuit against the site. The same action was taken by MP Daifallah Buramia against Al-Rai newspaper for allegations that his account was also referred to the public prosecution to probe alleged suspicious huge transfers.
Meanwhile, MP Waleed Al-Tabtabai called on the Kuwaiti embassy in Baghdad to deny reports by Iraqi Transport Minister Hadi Al-Ameri that he had returned expensive gifts given to him during a visit to Kuwait. Iraqi news reports alleged that Ameri was given highly expensive gifts during a visit to Kuwait which he returned to the Kuwaiti embassy with a letter scorning the action. The reports come amid strong Kuwaiti denials that the prime minister has given bribes to Iraqi foreign and transport ministers to overlook any objections to Boubiyan Island's Mubarak Al-Kabeer port.