Man blames IICO chairman of embezzling $26m public funds
KUWAIT CITY, Sept 19 : A Kuwaiti man Naif Mansour Al-Hajri, through his Lawyer Saleh Al-Enezi, submitted a complaint to the Public Prosecution Department against the President of the International Islamic Charitable Organization (IICO) Dr Abdullah Al-Ma’atouq, accusing him of embezzling about $26 million in public funds donated to construct mosques, schools and boreholes in Pakistan.
The plaintiff said the aforementioned projects were not executed, so he urged the court to sentence the defendant for seven years in prison, reports AlSeyassah daily.
In his complaint, Lawyer Al-Enezi cited Articles 2 and 11 of the Public Funds Protection Law, which empower citizens to lodge complaints against public money-related crimes whenever they uncover such, indicating the refusal to complain is considered a crime in itself. He explained that Pakistan experienced serious flood in 2010, which caused overwhelmingly devastating destruction. His Highness the Amir decided the country should donate to their brothers in Pakistan, so many Kuwaitis, including the Amir and several members of the ruling family donated $26 million towards the cause, afterwich Dr Al-Ma’atouq issued a statement to appreciate the goodwill.
He stressed that the defendant was supposed to spend the money on the construction of mosques, schools and boreholes, but those projects were not executed in reality, stressing there are documents to back the allegation. He added that complaints were lodged against the IICO in Pakistan over the failure to execute the projects.
He revealed there was an official correspondence from the Pakistani government to the Kuwaiti Ambassador in Pakistan to ensure the financial violation was dealt with. He also said the Pakistani officials have filed lawsuits over the incident with certain concerned international organizations such as the United Nations AntiCorruption Office, Money Laundering and Smuggling Office in Pakistan, and the High Court of Pakistan.
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❑ Challenges rejected: The Constitutional Court rejected three constitutional challenges in the Law of Advocacy, Consumer Protection and university regulations, while the Appeals Examination Committee rejected two appeals related to the National Assembly election law, reports Al-Anba daily.
The court rejected the claim of unconstitutionality of Article 17 of the admission regulation at Kuwait University for academic year 2019/2020, regarding nonpermissibility of the student to apply to the university as a freshman (high school graduate) if he had previously been dismissed from the university for academic reasons. According to the claimant, this contradicts the principles of equality and the right to education, and also violates of Articles 7, 8, 13, 29 and 40 of the Constitution.
The court also did not accept a claim for the unconstitutionality of Article 37 of Law No. 42 of 1964 governing the profession of Lawyer, amended by Law No. 62 of 1996, with regard to the presence of non-judicial elements to form the Lawyers Disciplinary Board from members of Kuwait Bar Association, in contravention of the text of Articles 53 and 163 of the Constitution.
The court also rejected a challenge to Article 4 of Law 39 of 2014 regarding consumer protection, which stipulates that decisions issued by the committee in the implementation of the provisions of this law are final, and any appeal against them goes directly to the competent administrative court to be decided without delay, because the legislator is not allowed to enter into the jurisdiction of the administrative department of the Court of First Instance.
And, the mere issuance of a decision by the administrative authority does not apply to it in all judgments. As for the Appeals Examination Committee, it rejected two arguments concerning the unconstitutionality of Article 14 of the National Assembly Members Elections Law No. 35 of 1962, which states that “appeals mentioned in the previous article shall be finally decided by a judge of the High Court who shall be delegated by its president or a number of judges to carry out the duty, according to the electoral constituencies, while the decision on these appeals shall be issued no later than the end of June.”
Jail, deportation: The Criminal Court sentenced a Pakistani actor to two-year imprisonment with hard labor and imposed a fine of KD 1,000, as well as ordered his deportation from the country after he serves his jail term.
According to the case file, the defendant was charged with publishing an indecent video on SnapChat application, even though the defendant denied doing so under the claim that his account was hacked, and had also apologized.