Nazaha refers two officials to prosecution on graft charges

Kuwait gov’t keen to fight corruption: Nazaha

KUWAIT: The Kuwait Anti-Corruption Authority (Nazaha) referred yesterday an official at Kuwait General Administration of Customs and another official to the public prosecution on charges of corruption. The suspects were allegedly involved in wasting state funds worth up to KD 41,352 ($135,000), said Dr Mohammad Bouzuber, Nazaha’s Assistant Secretary General for Investigations and official spokesman. He affirmed that Nazaha would continue to gather evidences and witnesses’ account to add to the case against the suspects.

Fighting corruption

The authority has meanwhile stressed that Kuwait’s government is keen to fight corruption through the application of financial disclosure statement. The authority is exerting great efforts to overcome the difficulties in implementing the provisions of the national strategy on all state bodies, Head of the Authority Counsellor Abdulrahman Al-Namash told Al-Anbaa newspaper. He added this will make a positive contribution to Kuwait’s ranking in the Global Corruption Perceptions Index. The strategy includes working controls and reference terms for state body, on which the Authority can detect the corrupt, he said.

Meanwhile, Namash said Nazaha will organize the international conference to promote integrity and transparency next January, in conjunction with the launch of the national strategy to fight corruption.

Random examination

Nazaha in cooperation with competent authorities does a random examination of funds covered by the law, including ministers and deputies, he said, stressing that the Authority needs no permission to refer any corruption or suspicion of corruption to prosecution, where the body is independent practically and legally and Nazaha’s work ends with referral to the prosecution.

Nazaha, an independent authority, was established according to Law 2/2016, in response to the requirements stipulated by the UN anti-corruption convention. It advocates transparency and integrity in economic and administrative tasks for sake of securing rational management of states’ financial resources and assets.