Kuwait lawmakers took cash for votes: opposition MP

An opposition lawmaker today accused more than a dozen former and current members of Kuwait's parliament of accepting millions of dollars from the government in exchange for votes.
During testimony at special session of parliament, Riyadh al-Adasani showed what he said were documents proving that 13 legislators had received 51 million dinars (USD 170 million) in 2011.
Adasani named those alleged to have accepted the bribes for voting in favour of the government in the parliament. Of them, four are members in the current parliament.
Adasani was a member of a parliamentary panel formed in early 2012 by the then opposition-dominated parliament to probe the alleged bribes.

That parliament decided to investigate the allegations after the public prosecution shelved the case in October 2011, saying it had found no evidence of any crimes.
The prosecution had interrogated the accused lawmakers in the highly publicised case which triggered large street protests in late 2011 and led to the resignation of former prime minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.

The government today denied any wrongdoing in the case and said it was ready to act if it receives any evidence.
During the session of parliament, several lawmakers said corruption was rampant in the oil-rich Gulf state and charged that the government was not doing enough to curb it.

Lawmakers passed recommendations calling for the amendment of anti-corruption legislation within a month to allow the case to be reopened.
They also called on the Anti-Corruption Authority to start accepting cases related to alleged bribes among MPs.