JayK
11th Jul 2007, 07:14
Kuwaiti MPs have called for top executives from the national airline to be referred to the public prosecutor over alleged financial and administrative irregularities. The recommendations were made by a three-MP committee formed two years ago to probe allegations of wrongdoing by board members of state-owned Kuwait Airways.
Thirty lawmakers voted in favour of the referral while 12 others, mostly ministers, were opposed. The committee said its investigation had found evidence that a number of the airline’s board members, including chairman Sheikh Talal Mubarak al-Sabah, had committed financial and administrative irregularities.
The panel accused airline officials of “squandering public funds” but did not provide any further details about the irregularities it had uncovered. One recommendation called for sacking the board while the public prosecution investigation continues. The troubled airline has been in the red in 16 of the past 17 fiscal years and its accumulated losses are estimated at more than $2 billion.
MPs, however, passed the carrier’s 2007/2008 budget, which forecasts a deficit of $35.4 million. Revenues are projected at $905.2 million and expenditure at $940.6 million. In the last financial year which ended March 31, the airline lost $33 million, although it projected a deficit of $100 million.
The elected parliament is due to debate on a government-sponsored bill calling for Kuwait Airlines to be transformed into a public company with plans to sell off some of its shares.
Source: http://www.7days.ae/showstory.php?id=54255
Thirty lawmakers voted in favour of the referral while 12 others, mostly ministers, were opposed. The committee said its investigation had found evidence that a number of the airline’s board members, including chairman Sheikh Talal Mubarak al-Sabah, had committed financial and administrative irregularities.
The panel accused airline officials of “squandering public funds” but did not provide any further details about the irregularities it had uncovered. One recommendation called for sacking the board while the public prosecution investigation continues. The troubled airline has been in the red in 16 of the past 17 fiscal years and its accumulated losses are estimated at more than $2 billion.
MPs, however, passed the carrier’s 2007/2008 budget, which forecasts a deficit of $35.4 million. Revenues are projected at $905.2 million and expenditure at $940.6 million. In the last financial year which ended March 31, the airline lost $33 million, although it projected a deficit of $100 million.
The elected parliament is due to debate on a government-sponsored bill calling for Kuwait Airlines to be transformed into a public company with plans to sell off some of its shares.
Source: http://www.7days.ae/showstory.php?id=54255