Customs admin fails to refer abandoned goods for auction after expiry of 90 days
Hacked KFSD website restored after four days
KUWAIT CITY, Jan 29: Documents from oversight bodies affirmed that the General Administration of Customs failed to refer more than 170 containers, more than 100 types of goods, and 31 vehicles from the customs centers to Beit Al-Mal public auction after exceeding the storage period of 90 days, reports Al-Shahid Daily
According to the documents, these goods were stored in various storage yards of the customs for more than eight years, occupying a huge area of the customs storage facilities and losing the income that such facilities would have generated. Majority of the goods can no longer be sold, which is a clear violation of the articles of the relevant law and Ministry of Finance’s resolutions in this regard.
The documents also show that various goods have been found stored inside salon vehicles and half-lorries inside the containers in Shuwaikh Port for more than seven years.
Also, one of the companies is being accused of not paying custom duties worth about KD 1.962 million for the goods it imported, as well as fines which range from minimum of KD 3.924 million to maximum of KD 42.534 million.
Officials from the relevant authorities stressed the need for the General Administration of Customs to enforce the oversight regulations, and follow-up and inspection procedures on imported goods, and ensure the importers provide the country-of-origin documents due to repeated cases of evasion to pay customs duties on gold crafts from one of the GCC countries throughout the past five years despite the fact that the case is in the courts.
KFSD site revived:
Four days after the website of Kuwait Fire Service Directorate (KFSD) was hacked, the Public Relations and Media Department of KFSD declared in a press release that all
online transactions have currently been resumed after applying the emergency backup plan.
It explained that a backup of the database with all details of the network was retained, which was unreachable for the hackers.
Based on orders issued by Director General of KFSD Lieutenant General Khaled Al-Mekrad, a committee will be formed with representatives of the government bodies that are specialized in cyber security. Technical teams will also be formed to find urgent solutions to this issue. The Prevention Sector had declared about their backup plan to finalize the applications. There is complete coordination between KFSD and the concerned government authorities in this regard to ensure the administration receives necessary support to solve the problem as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, the transactions of the Directorate-General Fire Department are still pending until further notice, after the ‘hacker’ stopped the automated system of the administration, two days ago and demanded 10,000 dinars to return it to normal, reports Al-Rai daily.
An official source in the General Fire Department assured the daily that a number of specialized companies are working to decode the hacking code that stopped the administration’s website, which led to the suspension of all transactions until further notice, pointing out that efforts are continuing to restore the system soon.
The source pointed out the management has a backup file of all data and files and the hacker cannot tamper with or dispose of the
saved files.
From 6.30 am to 2.30 pm:
In a move aimed at facilitating procedures related to attendance and leave of employees, the Undersecretary of Ministry of Communications Kholoud Al-Shihab issued a decision to open the fingerprint attendance devices for the employees of the ministry from 6:30am to maximum 2:30pm, reports Al-Rai daily.
This decision was taken to implement the terms of decree No. 15/1979 concerning civil service and the amendment to the decision No. 41/2006 of the Civil Service Commission (CSC) regarding the official work timings and other related regulations in favor of the work and the employees of the ministry.