Oil-rich Kuwait has its first anti-corruption boss.
Abdulrahman Saleh Al-Namash will chair the country’s new anti-graft agency.
Kuwait — ranked 66 on the corruption perceptions index — recently enacted new anti-corruption legislation. The law imposes penalties of up to seven years in prison for manipulating public tenders and auctions, bribery, counterfeiting, forgery, and money laundering.
Also serving on the anti-graft panel are Riyadh Humoud Al-Hajri as deputy chair, and members Mishari Saad Al-Mutairi, Dawood Abdullah Al-Jarrah, Hamad sultan Al-Subaie, Abdulwahhab Saleh Al-Muzaini, and Luai Ahmad Al-Saleh, according to local reports.
In 2011, the public prosecutor began an investigation into nine members of parliament after two banks reported the transfer of $92 million into the bank accounts of two MPs, according to arabianbusiness.com.
Kuwait’s population is just 2.8 million. But with its oil production, per capita gross domestic product is $58,000.
Earlier this year, complaints were filed against four government officials for wasting public money. The officials allegedly cost the country about $17 million, in part through tenders for vehicles that weren’t needed and for excessive travel.
The International Monetary Fund has criticized Kuwait’s weak anti-money laundering controls, according to arabianbusiness.com. The IMF said the country’s financial institutions had inadequate preventive measures and a lack of supervision and monitoring.
Comments are closed for this article!