US embassy cable - 04KUWAIT4219

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 004219 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARPI 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/07/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, EFIN, KU 
SUBJECT: MINISTER SHARAR NOT THOROUGHLY COOKED: ANOTHER 
GRILLING VICTORY FOR PM SHAYKH SABAH'S CABINET 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Richard LeBaron for Reason 1.4 (b) 
 
1. (SBU) Summary: Prime Minister Shaykh Sabah's cabinet 
survived yet another Parliamentary grilling.  Mohammed 
Dhaifallah Sharar, (Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of State 
for Cabinet Affairs, and Minister of State for National 
Assembly Affairs), survived a grilling launched by two 
Members of Parliament (MPs) on December 6 on charges of 
corruption in state municipalities and public authorities 
under his control.  Although some of the charges appeared 
damaging to Sharar's case, he managed to produce plausible 
explanations and side-step more difficult inquiries, all the 
while characterizing himself as a champion of anti-corruption 
initiatives.  By the end of the inquiry, however, there 
appeared to be enough MPs to support a motion of 
no-confidence against the Minister of State.  Nevertheless, 
in the interest of comity and cooperation, the National 
Assembly accepted a proposal to initiate a probe into 
specific cases of corruption raised by the grilling MPs and 
to drop its charges against Sharar.  Information Minister 
Mohammed Abulhassan is the next minister likely to be 
grilled. End Summary. 
 
Sharar on the Defensive 
----------------------- 
 
2. (SBU) Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of State for Cabinet 
Affairs, and Minister of State for National Assembly Affairs 
Mohammed Dhaifallah Sharar was accused on December 6 of 
mismanagement and negligence in a variety of corruption 
charges against the Kuwait Municipality, the Public Authority 
for Agricultural Affairs and Fish Resources (PAAAFR), and the 
Civil Service Commission.  MP Ahmed Al-Mulaifi, an 
independent liberal and lawyer, began the eight hour grilling 
with charges that the Kuwait Municipality lost KD 77 million 
(USD 260 million) through negligence under Sharar's watch. 
(Note: MPs have the right to "grill" or inquire into the 
activities of any government minister including the Prime 
Minister and throughout the last 40 years have done so 
regularly.  The process can lead to a call for a vote of 
no-confidence in the minister upon a written request signed 
by 10 MPs.  The no-confidence vote requires only a simple 
majority of the members to pass, in which case the minister 
is required to resign.  To avoid embarrassing ministers, the 
Amir can decide to dissolve the Assembly and call new 
elections.  End Note.)  MP Ali Al-Rashid, an independent 
liberal and former judge, later launched an even more 
scathing attack against Sharar holding him responsible for a 
string of corrupt activities at the PAAAFR, including: 
contract forging, illegal distribution of lands and farms, 
unequal disbursement of subsidies to farmers, personal 
profiteering by the PAAAFR Chairman, and unethically 
profiting from contracts for the multi-colored artificial 
palm trees placed alongside Kuwaiti roads which were deemed 
to be "unattractive" and "in bad taste." 
 
Deft Rebuttal and Cooperative Compromise 
---------------------------------------- 
 
3. (SBU) Sharar began his rebuttal by cataloging his efforts 
to fight corruption in the State bodies that report to him 
saying "credit should go to me and I should be thanked for 
what I did and not criticized and grilled."  Through a 
combination of denials, buck-passing, claims of ignorance, 
and some legitimate efforts to defend his actions, Sharar 
managed to side-step most of the accusations with relative 
ease.  On a few of the more egregious examples of corruption, 
including cases involving forged contracts and preferential 
salaries given to Municipality employees, Sharar agreed to 
investigate the allegations leveled against him. 
 
4. (SBU) MPs Adel Al-Sarawi, Nasser Al-Sane, and Ahmed 
Saadoun spoke in favor of the grilling effort and MPs Hussein 
Mezyed, Salah Khorshid, and Ali-Deqbasi vocally opposed it. 
At the end of the grilling, MP Ali Al-Rashed said he had the 
10 MP signatures necessary for a motion of no-confidence -- 
the passage of which would lead to a call for a vote of 
no-confidence in a future session -- but in the interest of 
Parliamentary-GOK cooperation, and at the urging of National 
Assembly Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi, the Assembly agreed to 
cease its proceedings against Sharar and instead, launch a 
probe into some of the more blatant cases of alleged 
corruption.  A report from the probe is expected to be 
completed within three months. 
 
Next Minister To be Grilled 
--------------------------- 
 
5. (SBU) The minister next likely to be grilled is 
Information Minister Mohammed Abulhassan.  This charge is 
being led by the Salafis in the Islamic Bloc and is likely to 
come before Eid Al-Adha in late January.  The accusations 
against Abulhassan include permitting "indecent" concerts, 
failure to increase the amount of religious television 
programs, irregularities in Ministry employee promotion, 
general moral corruption, and a recent controversy over the 
airing of a program glorifying Yasser Arafat after his death. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
6. (C) Despite the illumination of clear mismanagement within 
some Kuwaiti public organizations, few believed that Sharar 
was in any danger of being removed from the Cabinet. In 
addition to unquestioned support from PM Shaykh Sabah, Sharar 
had the backing of some Islamists and bedouin from rural 
tribes.  (Note: Sharar is from the Mutairi tribe -- a sizable 
tribe in Kuwait known to include large numbers of bedouin and 
Islamists -- and is known to have some Islamist leanings. End 
Note.)  There was no speculation that PM Shaykh Sabah 
undertook any behind-the-scenes arm-twisting in support of 
his Minister, and, by all accounts, none was necessary. 
 
7. (C) PM Shaykh Sabah appears perfectly content to let his 
ministers ride out the storm of grillings.  None of the 
ministers being threatened appear particularly susceptible to 
being removed from office.  Further, the very act of grilling 
is touted as a genuinely democratic and transparent process 
giving the Prime Minister the best of both worlds--promoting 
the image of a vibrant and active democracy while keeping his 
chosen cabinet unchanged. 
LEBARON