SAB studied tenders with KD 564.6m value

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 26, (KUNA): State Audit Bureau of Kuwait (SAB) said Sunday in last December it studied 342 topics, including public and limited tenders, with an estimated value of KD 564.6 million (USD 1.8 billion).

SAB expressed its opinion on 269 files, valued KD 300 million (USD 987.6 million), or 53 percent of the total subjects under discussion during that period, auditor at the advance oversight department for economic affairs, Aisha Al-Awadhi said in a statement.

The pre-censorship of some of the files studied resulted in direct savings to the public treasury, at an estimated value of KD 3.5 million (USD 11.5 million) last December, she added.

She pointed out that bureau exercises its prior control in accordance with the law of its establishment No. 30/1964, as it is able to prevent any violations or damage.

Following what was published by the Al-Anba daily recently that an Arab mandoub and the owner of a company have been referred to the public prosecution for ‘selling’ hundreds of commercial visit visas, the Public Prosecution after opening the company’s file discovered that the company was earlier involved in bringing in workers to for the purpose of begging on the streets of Kuwait, reports Al-Anba daily.

According to security sources after two persons were caught for begging for alms the authorities discovered they were sponsored by this company and accordingly the company file was blocked and prevented from hiring any laborers.

The same source said at a later stage the block was lifted, for unknown reasons, and the company started in its new activity of selling commercial visit visas each for between 200 and 250 dinars.

The source added, the Interior Ministry has summoned for interrogation the officials who are responsible for lifting the block and allowing the company to practice its illegal activity.

Kuwait Ministry of Commerce and Industry said Saturday that the value of certificates of origin for Kuwaiti non-oil exports rose by 9.2 percent over the past year compared to 2018.

The Ministry indicated in a statement that the number of certificates of origin for exports to Arab and foreign countries reached 14,830 at a value of KD 169.6 million ($558 million) in 2019, compared to 8,270 with a value of KD 155.3 million ($511 million) in 2018.

Number of certificates for Kuwaiti exports to Arab countries with the exception of the GCC countries reached 3,802, valued at KD 57.1 million ($187.8) compared to 1,066 at value of KD 47.3 million ($155.6 million) to foreign countries, the statement said.

Those to GCC countries stood at 9,962, at a value of KD 65.1 million ($214.2 million) last year.

Iraq topped the list of Arab countries that are the most importers of Kuwaiti exports, followed by Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Algeria, Yemen, then Tunisia, while Qatar ranked first in the Gulf, followed by the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and then Bahrain.

On Kuwaiti exports to other countries of the world, the statement said, Italy came first, then Belgium, followed by Turkey, France, Spain and Portugal.

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 In adherence to reform measures undertaken by the Ministry of Health, knowledgeable sources disclosed that a former deputy undersecretary of health has been referred to prosecution on suspicion of corruption involving four files, reports Al-Rai daily.

The same sources affirmed keenness of the ministry to apply Public Funds Protection Law on all without exception in support of HH the Prime Minister’s fight against corruption.

They pointed out that the afore-mentioned files of corruption are related to projects that were under direct responsibility of the said former leader. For this reason, he was referred to prosecution.

It is noteworthy that Minister of Health Sheikh Dr Basel Al-Sabah has handed several files related to wastage of public funds, falsification of official documents, and manipulation of fingerprint attendance to the public prosecution.