KUWAIT CITY, 1 July 2007 — Kuwaiti Oil Minister Sheikh Ali Jarrah Al-Sabah, who faced a no-confidence vote in Parliament over alleged financial irregularities, has stepped down along with the communications minister, official media said yesterday.
Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah accepted the resignation of Sheikh Ali, who risked dismissal on a simple majority of 25 members of the 50-seat Parliament in the July 9 vote, the official KUNA news agency said.
The emir also “accepted the resignation of Communications Minister and State Minister for National Assembly Affairs Sharida Al-Meosherji,” the news agency added.
Opposition MPs have accused Sheikh Ali of involvement in the multimillion dollar Kuwait Oil Tanker Company fraud case in which former Oil Minister Sheikh Ali Khalifa Al-Sabah and four other top KOTC officials are accused of stealing more than $100 million. They have denied any wrongdoing.
The minister had faced nine hours of questioning in the Kuwaiti Parliament last Monday. Islamist Meosherji has apparently resigned in protest to the questioning of Sheikh Ali in Parliament, which was supported mainly by Islamist MPs, parliamentary sources said.
The oil minister has been under fire since telling Al-Qabas newspaper on May 12 that he considered Sheikh Ali Al-Khalifa as “my master and that I consult him occasionally on oil issues.” He issued a statement afterward in which he apologized for what he said and stressed he would pursue people accused of stealing public funds. Opposition MPs were infuriated by his comments, which came as Parliament began a debate over several graft cases involving public funds.
The controversy is the latest in a string of political crises in the past 18 months that saw a bitter power struggle, the dissolution of Parliament and the forming of three governments.
Oil experts believe that the resignation of the oil minister will not dramatically affect the emirate’s oil policy but may further delay key projects in the sensitive sector.
Sheikh Ali is the eighth oil minister since the emirate’s liberation from seven months of Iraqi occupation in 1991.
He is the second ruling family member to be questioned in four months.
In March, the Kuwaiti Cabinet resigned after barely eight months in office to abort a no-confidence vote against former Health Minister Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah Al-Sabah.
KUNA said that the minister of electricity and water, Mohammad Al-Olaim, will take care of the oil portfolio, while state minister for housing, Abdulwahed Al-Awadhi, will be in charge of the ministry of communication.
