Kuwait Braces for Showdown over Graft Scandal
OPEC member Kuwait is bracing for a major political showdown over a graft scandal involving MPs as the opposition mounts a fierce campaign to oust the prime minister.
Liberal, nationalist and Islamist opposition groups have united following allegations that pro-government MPs accepted hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes, with fingers pointed at the government as the source of the money.
The judiciary in the wealthy Gulf state has launched an unprecedented probe into the bank accounts of at least 14 members of the 50-seat parliament, and their number is likely to grow.
Veteran opposition figure Ahmad al-Saadoun has said he suspected MPs may have received more than $350 million in illegal deposits over the past few weeks.
Opposition MPs, demanding a transparent investigation, plan to file a request next week to question in parliament Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad al-Sabah, a senior member of the ruling family and the ruler's nephew.
"The multi-million-dinar scandal is a direct result of Sheikh Nasser remaining at the helm," opposition MP Khaled al-Tahous told a public gathering on Monday.
MP Mussallam al-Barrak said the alleged payments coincided with grillings in parliament against senior ministers.
"In this tense situation, a fierce battle is highly expected to take place (between government and opposition), disrupting the country's interests in the midst of the global financial crisis and unprecedented regional political turmoil," the Al-Shall Economic Consultants said in a report this week.
Al-Shall called for a decision to change the government and its head to "avert an inevitable angry battle (in parliament) that may extend to the street."
But political analyst Nasser al-Abdali believes the current campaign will not topple the government or change the prime minister.
"I believe a decision of this nature is not expected... the status quo will be maintained," said Abdali, who heads the independent Kuwait Society for the Advancement of Democracy.
"So far, the opposition has no evidence to link the bribes with either the prime minister or the government... and even if they quiz the premier, they are not expected to unseat him," Abdali added.
Under Kuwaiti law, the ruler has the sole authority to appoint or dismiss the prime minister.
Kuwait has been rocked by a series of political disputes since Sheikh Nasser became premier in 2006. The parliament has since been dissolved three times and the cabinet has stepped down on six occasions.
Opposition groups have been holding almost daily gatherings to mobilize the Kuwaiti public against corruption. A mass rally is planned for Wednesday.
"The issue requires continued work until the downfall of the government and corruption elements that have destroyed the country," Saadoun said Monday.
"I swear that the country is in danger and sliding... MPs who support toppling the prime minister have now become a majority," he said.
The government has countered the opposition campaign by hurriedly pushing through a string of anti-corruption legislation that had been stalled for more than a decade.
It promised to submit to parliament this week several draft laws on wealth disclosure, integrity and setting up an authority for combating corruption.
The bills will be ready for voting in parliament on October 25.
Head of Kuwait Transparency Society Salah al-Ghazali warned that the graft case is only a fraction of a corruption epidemic in oil-rich Kuwait.
"The millions of (illegal) deposits are only the tip of an ice mountain (of corruption) floating in the sea. What is unknown is far greater," Ghazali told a gathering for civil societies on Monday.
Corruption has been on the rise in the OPEC's-third largest producer, which has posted a budget surplus in each of the past 12 years amounting to $200 billion thanks to high oil prices, as it is headed for another year with huge windfall.
Between 2003 and 2009, the emirate slipped 31 places to 66th position on the Berlin-based Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index, out of 178 nations.
In 2010, however, it improved 12 places to the 54th position but still came last among the six-nation energy-rich Gulf Cooperation Council, behind Saudi Arabia.
Source: Agence France Presse
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