Social Media Joins The Fight Against Corruption

A new report from the Public Authority for Combating Corruption (Nazaha) reveals that ‘whistle-blowers’ in public sector entities and private firms have been using social media platforms to tip-off the Authority on corruption and other wrongdoing in their enterprises.

Information provided by these individuals, as well as investigative reports in newspapers, websites and social media platforms is enabling Nazaha to go after the corrupt, and track down information on their crimes.

Nazaha said in its report that during the period from the beginning of 2019 to August of this year, 59 corruption-related crimes in various government agencies in different areas were discovered and 111 officials were suspected of involvement in corruption. Of these, 45 were assistants and 66 were either directors or deputies of various entities and institutions. The cases monitored during this period included alleged corruption related to seven ministers, 14 undersecretaries, 6 directors, and 14 of unspecified job status.

The report also showed that the Authority received a total of 646 complaints on various corruption crimes. Individuals were responsible for providing information used in 219 reports, followed by 68 reports from government agencies, and 5 were being monitored previously by the relevant department in Nazaha.

Nazaha added that its investigative work and the work of compiling reports on corruption cases were done within the framework of efforts aimed at curbing corruption, protecting public money, and curbing financial irregularities in state agencies. The report was compiled by the Project and Monitoring Department of the Corruption Detection and Investigation Sector of Nazaha.

Elaborating on the government entities against which corruption cases were launched, the report indicated the highest percentage of complaints was against the Ministry of Health (33 complaints), followed by Public Authority for Agriculture with 17 complaints against it, the General Administration of Customs (16) and the Kuwait Municipality (14).

Regarding the rate of reports against officials and others, Nazaha noted that 95 directors of administration, 45 assistant undersecretaries, 36 directors of a public body or institution, and 30 deputy directors of a public authority or institution were implicated on corruption charges.

Clarifying that not all information led to corruption charges being levelled in the report, Nazaha said that in August of this year the Authority received a total of 73 reports of alleged corruption, 27 of which were not covered by jurisdiction or were under study, 37 of were registered as administrative complaints, and only 9 complaints which met Nazaha’s formal and substantive conditions, were registered in the report and counted as a complaint. During the same month, Nazaha also recommended that one of the complainants be referred to the Public Prosecution, along with a request to initiate a criminal case against the whistleblower on suspicion of forgery.

 

SOURCE : TIMES KUWAIT

 

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