KUWAIT CITY // Kuwait's ranking in an annual index of perceived corruption has fallen 20 places to 66th from 46th in 2006, making it the worst-placed country in the Gulf Co-operation Council.
In a bid to stem the country's fall in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index, the Kuwait Transparency Society (KTS) has set about initiating laws and starting discussions on topics that were formerly taboo in the conservative state - such as the role of the royal family.
"We focus on political reform, economic reform, administrative reform and implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption," said Salah al Shammari, one of KTS's seven board members. The society has initiated five laws that are part of the UN convention.
KTS, which was formed in 2005, hopes to become a fully accredited member this year of Transparency International, a Berlin-based umbrella organisation for societies that fight corruption worldwide.
If it does, it will be the first GCC member and the organisation's fourth Arab chapter alongside ones in Morocco, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. At KTS's local headquarters on Monday night, Abdulrahman al Anjari, a member of parliament, discussed the group's achievements in the fight against corruption and the new laws the society is presenting to parliament. KTS initiates the legislative process by asking five MPs to back proposed laws and then lobbies on their behalf.
"Today, [KTS] submitted three bills. One is to protect against any form of economic crime and we also submitted the conflict of interest law and a third, the law of the public funds," Mr al Anjari said. Despite its advances, Kuwait still has "big problems" with corruption, he said.
"Corruption exists all over the world, in all countries, since God created Adam and Eve - you cannot eliminate corruption in any country or society - no way, but you try to reduce it," he said. "It's like car accidents: they're everywhere."
Kuwait has slipped in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index because of gaps in the legislation and a weak rule of law, Mr al Anjari said, adding that this can only be changed by implementing laws from "the top".
Mr al Shammari, the KTS board member, said Kuwait's low ranking in the index, is because its relatively free press - ranked as the freest in the Middle East by Reporters Without Borders - takes pleasure in highlighting the country's faults.
To promote dialogue between Kuwait's leaders, the KTS invited about 400 members of the government, parliament, judiciary, royal family and non-governmental organisations to a series of 10 private workshops that ended in March. Mr al Shammari said it "was the first time" the participants had come together in Kuwait, and they discussed the three branches of government, the relationships between the three and the royal family.
The workshop participants discussed creating a "family council" for the royal family, which would deal with what to do if the emir was in poor health and how to select the next emir and prepare him for his role. Mr al Shammari said the royal family was presented with the report from the meetings and "they appreciated" the ideas.
He said tightening the country's legislation regarding financial disclosure would help end accusations of corruption in parliament. Politicians are currently involved in a scandal after an MP accused the prime minister, Sheikh Nasser Mohammed al Ahmed al Sabah, of issuing a 200,000 Kuwaiti dinar (Dh2.6 million) cheque to a former MP.
The prime minister's lawyer argues that the cheque was issued from his personal account.
The society recommends that royal family members should not support MPs, and their benevolence should be regulated through institutions that are attached to them.
Mr al Shammari said he was surprised with the divisions he noticed between the royal family members who turned up at the workshops, and said some of them had not even spoken to each other before.
"But for the first time, I think, we successfully made them sit in one room," he said.
Kuwait's royals suffer from a dispute over the choice of their leader, which used to rotate between two branches of the family and now follows one line.
The KTS also monitors elections, offers advice on selecting candidates and produces reports for Democracy Reporting International, an international organisation that tries to promote the development of democratic institutions worldwide.
KTS produces its own local version of the index§, with more "positive" language, known as the "Reform Perception Index". Each year the report ranks public sector institutions by performance, and the embarrassment caused by being near the bottom of the list can be enough to shame the managers into action, Mr al Shammari said.
Several ministers have asked the society to arrange workshops after finishing near the bottom, he said.
jcalderwood@thenational.ae
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Lamsa
Founder: Badr Ward
Launched: 2014
Employees: 60
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: EdTech
Funding to date: $15 million
The%20specs
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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