KUWAIT CITY, July 17: State Minister for Housing and National Assembly Affairs Shueib Al-Muweizri confirmed that he will not contest in the upcoming parliamentary elections, indicating that there are candidates much more efficient than he is, reports Al-Wasat daily.

In an interview with Al-Watan TV Channel, he revealed that the Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW) annually pays KD 1,000,800,000 for rents, stressing that this amount can solve the housing problem in the country.

He indicated that he was confronted with two options of whether to disregard the malpractices committed by those who avail of this opportunity or to provide citizens their right particularly since there was a lack of surveillance on projects.

Resigned
When he resigned, Al-Muweizri said he was not happy with the current situation of the country and some ministers and lawmakers failed to fulfill their official duties, pointing out that some reformative officials try their best to fight against corruption, but unfortunately, no one defends them.

He stressed that there are some groups which are focused on achieving their personal interests without any regard for the good of the public, insisting that the country needs to implement the law impartially on everyone.

Meanwhile, parliamentary sources revealed that Al-Saifi Mubarak, Abdallah Al-Barghash and Nayef Al-Merdas will not take part in the primaries of Al-Ajman tribe in the fifth constituency while Mohammad Al-Huwailah is committed to the opinion of the tribe.

They added that Khalid Al-Odwa has not yet decided whether he would take part or boycott the upcoming parliamentary elections, indicating that he will wait until the announcement of the new Cabinet to make that decision.

On the other hand, Riyadh Al-Adsani, a member of the nullified 2012 Parliament, has demanded the government to fulfill its promises and avoid the amendment of the constituency system from what it is now, which is five-constituency system with four votes per voter, reports Al-Qabas daily.

He stressed that the country is suffering from political frivolity due to procrastination in carrying out procedures to dissolve the 2009 parliament.

Regarding the investigation committee of multimillion deposits and foreign funds transfer, he disclosed that he was astonished to note the inflation of such accounts as the largest sum was KD 10 million while the least was KD 1,300,000.


Revealed
In another development, reliable sources revealed that a number of ministers and lawmakers who are traders possess shares of nearly 62 percent from service companies in the Kuwaiti market, 57 percent of investment companies, 43 percent of real estate companies, 66 percent of companies unlisted in Kuwait Stock Exchange and about 14 percent in the banking sector, reports Al-Shahid daily.

They said these percentages indicate that this group of ministers and lawmakers possess approximately KD 320 million in services field, KD 289 million in investment companies, KD 262 million in real estate companies, KD 193 million in companies unlisted in Kuwait Stock Exchange and KD 417 million in the banking sector.

They pointed out that these ministers and lawmakers prefer to invest in companies instead of depositing them in banks so that they can avoid any legal queries regarding them particularly after the notorious scandals of multimillion deposits and foreign funds transfer.

They disclosed that judicial authorities have demanded Ministry of Commerce and Industry to submit documents related to the properties owned by a number of former ministers and lawmakers for evaluation.
They added that the ministry officials were fearful and hesitant after receiving this demand from the judicial authorities and are waiting for ministerial decision to provide them with such sensitive information.

Furthermore, sources revealed that the strict procedures followed by Central Bank of Kuwait for auditing data led to delay in issuing banks’ financial data for the first six months of year 2012, reports Al-Jaridah daily.
They indicated that the Central Bank of Kuwait had submitted several inquiries regarding the data of these banks and this task required a lot of time for completion.