Kuwaiti grant..Brotherhood minister tailors a tender to his size to steal 60 million dollars
English - Saturday 14 January 2023 الساعة 02:56 pm
Aden, NewsYemen:
The journalist and political writer, Saleh Al-Hanashi, revealed a new corruption scandal involving the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research in the Yemeni government, Khaled Al-Wasabi, who is loyal to the Islah Party, the local branch of the Brotherhood.
The corruption scandal relates to a financial grant from the Kuwait Fund, at a value of 17,600,000 Kuwaiti dinars, equivalent to 60 million dollars, to rehabilitate and equip 12 community colleges in Yemen.
The agreement was signed between the Kuwait Fund and the Yemeni Ministry of Technical Education and Vocational Training in 2014, when Al-Ashwal held the position of minister, but the implementation of the project was postponed after the Houthi militia took over Sanaa by force of arms.
In the first version of the agreement, the project aimed to furnish and equip 12 community colleges in Yemen, distributed as follows: Saada, Yarim, Dhamar, Sanhan, Al-Bayda, Ma'rib, Sha'ab Al-Salam, Abs, Amran, Al-Qabita, Al-Luhiyah.
And the agreement continued in this way, even after the Houthi militia took control of Sanaa, its seizure of state institutions, and the transfer of the then Minister of Technical Education and Vocational Training to Aden.
The Brotherhood minister (Al-Ashol) was adhering to the implementation of the project in the previous version, despite the fact that most of the beneficiary colleges are located in the areas controlled by the Houthis, but the Kuwait Fund refused and worked to postpone it.
According to the Al-Hanashi journalist, after pressure from the Kuwait Fund and its refusal to agree to the grant, on the condition that the targeted colleges be in the liberated areas, the colleges were re-distributed as follows: Seiyun, Socotra, Aden, Ma’rib, Al-Dhalea, Al-Shihr, Taiz, Shara’ab Al-Salam, Al-Qubaita .
A few days ago, the Ministry of Higher Education announced a tender for the implementation of the project, which it published in Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper, after agreeing with the Kuwait Fund to renew the agreement.
The journalist Al-Hanashi said that, after an agreement was reached with the Kuwaiti Fund to refinance the project to furnish community colleges in Yemen, the Minister of Higher Education, Khaled Al-Wasabi, issued a decision appointing his office manager, Ramzi Al-Mikhlafi, as director of project management in the ministry, while retaining the position of director of the minister's office.
He added that Al-Wasabi stipulated in the agreement that the director of his office, in his capacity as director of project management, also be the one authorized to implement the project and supervise its implementation.
The minister also put an explicit clause in the agreement stipulating that his office manager be given $600,000, according to official documents reviewed by NewsYemen.
According to the Yemeni Tenders and Auctions Law, a tender of this size is handled by the Supreme Authority for Tenders and Auctions, and supervised by the Supreme Authority for Tenders and Auctions Control, meaning that the Ministry of Higher Education is not competent to announce and supervise this tender.
However, Minister Al-Wasabi was not satisfied with violating the law, and delegating himself to what is not within the scope of his powers and competencies, as he instructed - according to a prior agreement - to the company (La Boratouille), which is run by a relative of Munir Al-Huraibi (an employee in the Projects Unit at the Ministry of Higher Education), to set the conditions and specifications of the tender. , which, in turn, has prepared the conditions commensurate with it and so that no other company can compete with it.
The company with a bad history - according to the journalist Al-Hanashi - set the period for submitting the tender to only 18 days, although the law stipulates that the period should not be less than 3 months.
