Saleh Ashour

KUWAIT: MP Saleh Ashour yesterday warned the oil ministry and other government agencies from taking "revenge" actions against members of a committee appointed to investigate allegations against the oil minister. The lawmaker said that following the grilling of Oil Minister Bakheet Al-Rasheedi in May, the government formed a four-member committee headed by former oil executive Ismail Hussein to investigate the allegations in the grilling.

He said the committee prepared a comprehensive report on the issue within two months, adding that parts of the report were leaked in what appears to be a deliberate act, which raises many questions. Ashour said that it is abnormal to release parts of the report before showing it to the Council Of Ministers and the National Assembly. He said that some relatives of the committee members, especially its chairman, have been intimidated either by threatening to refer them to the public prosecution or by scrapping their contracts.

The lawmaker warned that it was totally unacceptable that government agencies take punitive actions against relatives of investigation committee members appointed by the government. He warned that the Assembly will have a strong reaction against the government and will hold Rasheedi and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Anas Al-Saleh responsible for any such harm.

The committee report has confirmed allegations that some top oil executives were responsible for squandering public funds to the tune of KD 1.3 billion. Several lawmakers have already called on the oil minister and some senior oil executives to resign based on the outcome of the report, which confirmed some of the allegations.

Meanwhile, former MP Nasser Al-Duwailah was yesterday released by the public prosecution on KD 4,000 bail after interrogating him on charges of insulting Saudi Arabia on Twitter. Duwailah said on Twitter a few days ago that the foreign and interior ministries filed two cases against him for tweets deemed offensive to Saudi Arabia.

By B Izzak