Awqaf Violations Reported By Sab In Millions Of Dinars

Al-Seyassah newspaper reported that the State Audit Bureau's report on the 2021/2022 fiscal year revealed grave financial and administrative violations in the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs.

There are KD 2 million in appointments to mosques that exceed the required number, and KD 1 million and 255 thousand owed by the General Secretariat of Awqaf to the ministry. At the request of the Violations Investigation Committee, the ministry failed to refer a former undersecretary and six employees to the Public Prosecution. The report states that the ministry used endowment funds for appointments that exceeded the actual need for imams and muezzins.

Their salaries totaled KD 2 million and 187 thousand, which is in violation of administrative circular No. 14/2017 issued by the Assistant Undersecretary for the Mosques Sector in the same year regarding determining the number of workers. An imam and a muezzin were the only workers allowed in the mosque, unless the imam was an assistant Kuwaiti, in which case another imam would accompany him.

Kuwait has 1,716 mosques, but according to the previous circular, the number of employees in those mosques is much higher. Despite the fact that the General Secretariat of Awqaf failed to pay KD 1,255,936, the value of renting housing units and investment leased shops for companies during the period from July 2004 to March 2015 when the subordination of the units was transferred to the endowments, the ministry did not take any action.

During the audit, it was revealed in the minutes of the meeting on October 6, 2021, that the ministry demanded the General Secretariat of Awqaf for the rental income collected on housing units and investment leased premises.

They are divided into two parts: 43 units received from the General Secretariat of Awqaf, and units received by the ministry from the General Secretariat of Awqaf. By examining the rents collected from these units, it was found that the amounts of their rents were transferred to the ministry’s accounts. The Secretariat requested information on the measures taken by the ministry regarding the amount owed by the General Secretariat of Endowments to date.

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