MoI vows action against graft; deports 13,000 expats in 2018
KUWAIT: Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Khaled Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah yesterday said after checking the ministry’s financial contracts and tenders recently, abuse of public funds was detected in an aircraft refueling contract, adding such a violation led to squandering of public funds. The ministry conducted a thorough investigation of the incident, he said in a press statement, adding the case was referred to the public prosecution for necessary legal action against the suspects. Sheikh Khaled lauded all efforts exerted by the ministry’s leadership and staff to defend public funds, commending, at the same time, the supervisory role of MPs and parliamentary committees in cooperating with state ministries and bodies to protect public funds.
Sheikh Khaled also affirmed that his ministry is inspecting financial and administrative violations and abuses. The ministry’s action is part of implementing the directions of HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah to hold abusers of public funds accountable regardless of their posts or ranks, Sheikh Khaled said in the statement. It is also part of the government’s ongoing anti-corruption procedures, he said, affirming the ministry’s keenness on preserving and protecting public funds and boosting transparency in tenders’ transactions.
Meanwhile, the interior ministry has deported 13,000 expats since the beginning of 2018, said informed security sources, noting that deportees included labor law violators and those involved in criminal cases, traffic violations and other cases. The sources added that some of the deportees were medically unfit and infected with hepatitis C and AIDS.
“Many of them held university degrees,” the sources said, noting that 80 male and 20 female inmates are currently awaiting deportation. “The deportation process is much faster now and deportees no longer spend more than a week at the deportation prison unless wanted over cases still being tried in courts,” the sources explained. The sources added Indians formed the majority of deportees, followed by Filipinos, Ethiopians, Egyptians, Sri Lankans and Bangladeshis.