الرئيسية
Kuwaitis gather outside the parliament in Kuwait City
during a protest calling for the resignation of the government over a
graft scandal, in October 2011. Millions of dollars have been deposited
suspiciously into the bank accounts of 15 Kuwaiti MPs suspected of money
laundering, reports citing informed sources said on
Thursday.(AFP/File/Yasser al-Zayyat)
By AFP
KUWAIT CITY (AFP) - Millions of dollars have been deposited
suspiciously into the bank accounts of 15 Kuwaiti MPs suspected of money
laundering, reports citing informed sources said on Thursday.
The
central bank told prosecutors that bank accounts held by the 15
lawmakers "have received suspicious deposits and the anti-money
laundering law applies to them," Al-Jarida newspaper reported.
But
the central bank said in statement that any reports of suspected money
laundering are prepared by the Kuwait Financial Intelligence Unit and
not the bank.
The unit, attached to the finance ministry,
"provides the prosecutor ... with its technical viewpoint on such
operations," the bank said in the statement cited by the official KUNA
news agency.
The bank denied it had implicated anyone in
suspected money laundering operations, saying crimes can only be
established by the public prosecution and not the central bank.
In
September, the public prosecutor launched an unprecedented probe into
the bank accounts of the 15 lawmakers after three banks reported that
large deposits were added to the accounts from unknown sources.
The
case was one of several issues that forced former prime minister Sheikh
Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad Al-Sabah to resign this week.
Al-Jarida
said the prosecutor planned to ask parliament to lift the immunity of
the suspected MPs in order to question them on the source of the money.
The
opposition has alleged that the funds, estimated at $350 million, were
paid by the government to secure votes on crucial issues, including
motions of no-confidence against the premier and his ministers.
The Kuwaiti government has denied the allegations.
Al-Jarida
said the largest deposit for one MP was $7.3 million and $18.2 million
in his wife's account. No names were published in the report but media
had published some names in September.