At last the five suspects in the Eurofighter deal between Italy and Kuwait are expected to be produced before the Permanent Investigation Committee for the Trial of Ministers before the issue is referred to the Ministers Court.
Informed sources told a local Arabic daily, five people, including a former minister, are suspected of appropriating public funds in the aircraft deal and the court session is expected to look into this issue soon.
According to observers’ expectations, it is likely that other officials will be summoned for interrogation, and some ‘others’ believed to be linked to the issue to listen to their testimonies and take down their statements to expand investigations into the case from various aspects based on the data.
In 2015, Kuwait had signed a memorandum of understanding with Italy to buy 28 Eurofighter aircraft, for 8 billion Euros ($9 billion). At the beginning of 2020, the Public Prosecutor referred a communication received from Defense Minister Sheikh Ahmed Al-Mansour related to the Eurofighter deal to the Inquiry Commission.
In July 2021, Deputy Prime Minister and former Minister of Defense Sheikh Hamad Jaber Al-Ali referred to the Public Authority for Anti-Corruption (Nazaha) the observations of the Audit Bureau’s report on the inflation of the Eurofighter purchase contract.
The sources stated that the referral did not come on the principle of purchase per se, but on the inclusion of additional items at a later time.
Last January, the “Integrity” Commission announced the referral of two officers in the rank of major general and a colonel in the army to the Public Prosecution on charges of causing serious harm to public money, against the background of the Eurofighter contract.
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