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Join Date: 04 Mar 2015
Location:  KuwaitPosts: 87 |
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33,000 iqama violators get 60-day grace period – MP asks about stolen funds ; Call to reinstate KA |
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33,000 iqama violators get 60-day grace period – MP asks about stolen funds ; Call to reinstate KAC as national carrier
KUWAIT: More than 33,000 residency violators who are registered with suspended companies will be granted a grace period of 60 days from June 1 to Aug 1 to legalize their status. According to Abdullah Al-Motoutah, director of the Manpower Public Authority, the grace period coincides with the approach of the holy month of Ramadan and would allow violators to either transfer their work permits to other sponsors or cancel them to leave. “This grace period was given for both humanitarian reasons as well as to give employers a chance to make use of the expertise of those laborers who are already in Kuwait instead of recruiting new ones and waiting for their arrival, needless to mention the time new recruits would wait to gain enough experience,†he explained. Motoutah added that his organization was coordinating with the interior ministry to halt the arrest of violating laborers in this category to give them a chance to use the grace period. Meanwhile, independent MP Ahmad Al-Qudhabi inquired yesterday in a series of questions about the government’s efforts to trace hundreds of millions of dinars in public funds allegedly stolen by the former chief of the pension agency. In questions to Minister of Justice Yacoub Al-Sane, the lawmaker asked about the legal measures taken following a Swiss court judgement to freeze 15 bank accounts related to the former director general of the Public Institution for Social Security Fahd Al-Rajaan. He said that an arrest warrant has been issued against Rajaan, who has fled Kuwait, in addition to an asset freeze order against him and his first degree relatives. Qudhabi asked that since the stolen funds belong to Kuwait and have been deposited in investment companies, has the government taken legal measures against these investment companies and fund managers for facilitating the stealing of state money. He said that the stolen funds were also deposited in international banks which are bound by agreements to combat money laundering and stealing of public funds. Qudhaibi asked if the Kuwaiti government has invoked legal measures against those banks for facilitating the stealing of the funds and “damaging†Kuwait. The government and local media have revealed that Rajaan is accused of stealing hundreds of millions of dinars when he was at the helm of the state-run pension agency. It was alleged that he had diverted the funds over years into foreign-based bank accounts and into paper companies based in several countries. The corruption case was brought to light when a Swiss court agreed to freeze the bank accounts belonging to Rajaan and a number of his relatives. The government has repeatedly vowed to track down the former official to recover the stolen funds. Separately, MP Mohammad Al-Jabri said yesterday that he totally supports moves to reinstate Kuwait Airways Co as the country’s national carrier. In 2008, the National Assembly passed a law to transform the then Kuwait Airways Corporation into a shareholding company operating on a commercial basis. Little has been implemented in the privatization process and the sale of a 40-percent stake in KAC to a strategic investor. The law has been amended on at least two occasions, prompting several MPs to call for making KAC the national carrier again, especially after the carrier signed two mega deals worth several billion dollars to purchase 25 Airbus and 10 Boeing aircraft. Jabri also praised an announcement by KAC chairwoman Rasha Al-Roumi that the airline succeeded in cutting losses to KD 33 million in 2014 from KD 67 million the previous year. Source:.kuwaittimes http://news.kuwaittimes.net/33000-iqama-violators-get-60-day-grace-period-mp-asks-about-stolen-funds-call-to-reinstate-kac-as-national-carrier/ |
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