Kuwait Airways corruption inquiry

Kuwait passed a law in 2008 to privatise Kuwait Airways, with shares to be held by the government, private sector and employees.
Mohammed Al Busairi, the Kuwaiti minister of communication, has launched a committee to investigate alleged corruption in Kuwait Airways Corp (KAC), the government-owned carrier that is set for privatisation.

“Last week, I formed a committee to investigate alleged financial and administrative violations in KAC. I gave the panel two months to complete the probe,” Mr Al Busairi told the parliament.

Speaking on Tuesday, he said the investigation would give him the names of those allegedly responsible for “administrative corruption and financial wrongdoing”, and assured the chamber that the culprits would face criminal action.

He said several reports, including one by a parliamentary committee in 2007 and another by the audit bureau last month, had accused KAC of a wide range of violations.

The head of the parliament’s budget committee, Adnan Abdulsamad, said that “horrible violations” had been committed by KAC, especially since the national assembly voted to privatise it two years ago.

Mr Abdulsamad said Mr al Busairi needed to act decisively on allegations of poor aircraft maintenance, the Kuwait Times reported.

“KAC has become an example of corruption. Kuwaitis fly on Qatar and UAE [airlines] because they are afraid for their life [on KAC],” the newspaper reported one member of parliament, Saifi Al Saifi, as saying.

Two other MPs, Khalid bin Essa and Hussein Al Huraiti, blamed most of KAC’s alleged violations on interference by the government and the parliament, an Emirati newspaper the National reported.

LWDLIK- I hope the people who bled this company dry get their dues.