KUWAIT CITY, Dec 24: MP Abdulkareem Al-Kandari has submitted a bill to amend law number 106/ 2013 on combating money laundering and financing terrorism in order to transfer the supervision of Kuwait Financial Investigations Unit from the Ministry of Finance to the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK).

Article Two of the bill states that the minister of finance shall specify the limit for dealing in cash – local or foreign currencies. MP Mohammad Hadi Al- Hewaila forwarded queries to all ministers about the execution of the replacement policy.

He requested for details as follows:

❑ Number of jobs previously occupied by expatriates who were replaced with nationals since the Civil Service Commission (CSC) issued decision number 11/2017 on replacing expatriates working in public institutions with citizens.

❑ Number of expatriates who have been appointed since the issuance of the abovementioned decision. He requested for copies of their academic certificates and fields of specialization.

❑ Reasons behind these appointments. He asked if Kuwaitis applied for such jobs. If yes, he wants to know the reason for their dismissal.

❑ Number of expatriate employees in each ministry at present and their qualifications.

❑ Number of vacancies in each ministry.

Queries
MP Muhannad Al-Sayer submitted queries to Minister of Justice Dr Nawaf Soud Al-Yasseen about the current number of messengers tasked to deliver court summons to the concerned individuals; and number of employees in each of the offices of the minister, undersecretary and assistant undersecretaries and their job descriptions.

He demanded for a copy of the decision issued by the former minister to establish a directorate for judicial notifications and reasons behind the delayed implementation of the decision. Al-Sayer also forwarded queries to Minister of Health Dr Basel Al- Sabah regarding reports published by local newspapers on Dec 11, 2020 about the ministerial resolution on canceling reshuffling decision numbers 4194, 4195, 4196, 4196, 4197, 4198, 4199, 4200 and 4201/ 2020. He asked for copies of complaints regarding these reshuffling decisions and the report of the Legal Affairs Department as it was used as the basis for issuing resolution number 6135/2020 on canceling the reshuffling decisions.

He presented questions to Minister of Commerce and Industry and State Minister for Economic Affairs Faisal Abdulrahman Al- Medlej about the recent hike in the price of construction iron which reached KD20 per ton. He asked if a ministerial decision was issued to increase the prices of construction materials and action taken against companies proven to have committed violations. He forwarded queries to Minister of Interior Sheikh Thamer Ali Al-Sabah about the leaked State security records. He asked if Sheikh Hamad Jaber Al-Mubarak was referred to the Public Prosecution.

If yes, he requested for a copy of the case file referred to the prosecution. If no, he wants to know the reasons for not referring the latter to the prosecution. He also inquired about the opinion of Fatwa and Legislation Department regarding the decision of former Interior Minister Anas Al-Saleh to refer Brigadier Talal Al-Saqr for retirement.

In another development, MP Khalid Ayed was elected chairperson of the Legal and Legislative Affairs Committee while MP Muhannad Al-Sayer was elected as rapporteur. Ayed disclosed the committee will meet on Dec 27, 2020 to look into the bills in its agenda, especially the urgent proposals like enhancing freedom and general amnesty. Moreover, Housing Affairs Committee Chairman MP Fayez Al-Jomhour disclosed that the committee met on Thursday in the presence of groups representing different areas such as South Saad Al-Abdullah, Mutla’a City, Sabah Al-Ahmad City and Khaitan. He affirmed the committee listened to the comments, recommendations and complaints of these groups. He said the committee will discuss the comments and complaints with the concerned ministers including State Minister for Housing and Services Affairs Dr Abdullah Abdulsamad Ma’arefiand Minister of Public Works and State Minister for Municipal Affairs Dr Rana Al-Fares.