KUWAIT: Three opposition lawmakers yesterday filed to grill Information Minister Mohammad Al-Jabri over alleged administrative and financial violations and misuse of powers. Acting Assembly Speaker Essa Al-Kandari said the grilling will be listed on the agenda of the April 30 session, but the minister has the right to postpone the debate for two weeks.

This will be the second grilling on the agenda of the next session, after a grilling against Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Anas Al-Saleh. MPs have also threatened to grill the prime minister and finance minister. MP Al-Humaidi Al-Subaei has said he will file to grill Commerce and Industry Minister Khaled Al-Roudhan, and yesterday said he will grill the health minister if what he called "treatment tourism" abroad does not stop.

The grilling against Jabri was filed by MPs Riyadh Al-Adasani, Mohammad Al-Dallal and Adel Al-Damkhi, who said after handing over a copy of the grilling that their main object is reform and fighting corruption. The grilling accuses the minister of having committed a number of legal, financial, technical and administrative violations at the ministry of information, the Public Authority for Agricultural Affairs and Fish Resources and the Public Sports Authority, which fall under the minister.

At the ministry, the grilling charges that the minister committed financial violations by squandering public funds, and claims irregularities in appointments and promotions. It also charges Jabri of committing wide ranging violations at the agricultural authority that includes unfair distribution of state land parcels, obstructing investigation into alleged corruption at the authority and stripping the authority head of all his powers.

At the sports authority, the minister is accused of misusing his powers. The grilling also accuses the minister of failing to curb corruption and violations at all the three bodies under his supervision to the extent that remarks by the Audit Bureau about these bodies increased markedly after the minister took over. The grilling could end in a no-confidence vote against the minister, which if passed, would mean an automatic dismissal. Adasani hoped the minister meets the same fate as his two predecessors, who were forced to resign following grillings.

By B Izzak