LOCALARAB TIMES, MONDAY, JULY 17, 2017

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Kuwaiti, teen commit suicide,woman killed; corpses found

Wanted person escapes in coffi n as dead body

KUNA photoA view of the Martyr’s Garden in the evening.

By Munaif Nayef Al-Seyassah Staff

KUWAIT CITY, July 16: A 14-year old Bedoun youth committed suicide inside his family home in Taima area. Also, a 23-year old Kuwaiti citizen committed suicide inside his family home in West Mishref.

The corpses of the deceased individuals have been referred to the Forensics Department. Inves-tigations have been launched to determine the cause for suicide by both individuals.

Meanwhile, an Asian woman died after she was hit by the vehicle of a Kuwaiti citizen in his 30s while she was crossing Sixth Ring Road opposite Saad Al-Abdullah area.

Securitymen and paramedics rushed to the location after receiv-ing information about the accident. The motorist informed them that she suddenly crossed the road and he was unable to stop his vehicle from hitting her.

Investigations revealed that the victim is of Asian nationality and did not have any identification doc-uments with her.

A case was registered and inves-tigations are ongoing.

Furthermore, the corpse of a Lebanese expatriate was discovered inside his flat in Salwa area.

According to security sources, when the Operations Room of Ministry of Interior received a call from the victim’s relatives to report the victim missing, securitymen went to his flat in Salwa area and brought down the front door of the flat to find the victim lying motion-less on the floor.

When examined, it was discov-ered that he had died just five hours before his corpse was found. A search of his flat revealed the pres-ence of narcotic pills and drug para-phernalia, which were confiscated and referred to the concerned authorities. The corpse was referred to the Forensics Department for autopsy to determine the cause of his death.

In addition, a Kuwaiti citizen in his 50s was found dead on his bed inside his flat in Mahboula area.

According to security sources,

KFSD photoAn African citizen died in a collision between half-lorry and a transport bus on Sat-

urday. One person was seriously injured.

KUNA photoThe inspection team during the tour of shopping malls.

General Traffi c Department, with the cooperation of Ministry of Public Works will offi cially open the under passage on Jamal Abdul Nasser Road opposite Al-Salam Palace, Shuwaikh Industrial Area, the under passage on Jahra Road after Kuwait Sports Club (between Kei-fan, Shamiya and Shuwaikh Industrial Area) and a fl yover on Second Ring Road connecting Jahra Road towards United Nations Roundabout on July 16 at 9pm.

In a press statement issued by Ministry of Interior, the General Traffi c Depart-ment warned all users of Jahra Road that the intersection of Second Ring Road and Jahra Road will be closed. Those going towards Second Ring Road have to use the exit road from the bridge op-posite Fords showroom.

It urged all road users to be careful and aware, maintain speed limits, take note of traffi c demarcations and follow the in-structions of traffi c offi cers.

GTD to open two under passes

Surprise raid nets bogus companiesPublic Authority for Manpower Saturday announced that offi cials from the Central Labor Inspection Depart-ment launched a surprise inspection tour of shops that were closed down in some shopping complexes in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh area.

Deputy Director of Central Labor Inspection Depart-ment affi liated to the authority Sabah Al-Mutairi dis-closed that the inspection led to detection of several facilities that were shut down but with hundreds of workers registered in their fi les.

He explained that the inspection was aimed to con-

trol the labor market and block way for bogus compa-nies, which has become a major avenue for violation of law.

Al-Mutairi said efforts exerted by the authority have been diverted towards fi guring out the rate of compli-ance of employers to the provisions of law No. 6/2010 concerning the private sector labor.

He stated that the shopping complexes were noted long ago during evening inspections, so the offi cials went in the morning to double check if they were actu-ally transacting business or not.

the building caretaker went to the victim’s flat to find him lying on his bed motionless. He immedi-ately notified securitymen who rushed to the location to discover the citizen was dead.

His corpse was referred to the Forensics Department and his death was determined to be based on natural causes.

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Fleeing in coffin?: A confiden-tial security report said there is no security control over coffins which carry human remains from Kuwait because this method may be used by vested interests to smuggle people wanted by law outside the country, reports Al-Shahed daily.

In this regard the report is said to have documented once such case. In response to this allegation, the Public Ports Authority stressed

the General Administration of Customs is responsible for check-ing the contents of the coffin before it leaves the country. However, it is said a coffin is not allowed to leave if it is not sealed by wax.

The Public Ports Authority, according to its jurisdiction, checks the documents related to the human remains issued by the Ministry of Health.

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Unpaid KD 16 mln!: The Ministry of Health last Thursday terminat-ed the service of an Egyptian accountant for causing delay in the payment of bills to pharma-ceutical companies during fiscal year ended March 3, 2017, reports Al-Qabas daily.

The ministry sources pointed out the accountant obstructed the disbursement of more than KD 16 million, the value of drugs sup-

plied to the ministry by companies which have a contract with the ministry. The daily did not give more details.

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Abuse exchanged: A health offi-cial and a pharmacist lodged com-plaints with security operatives accusing each other of verbal abuse after a minor disagreement at the Sabahiya Clinic. A case was registered.

Meanwhile, an unknown person made away with a Toyota vehicle few hours after it had been towed to Seizure Garages of the Interior Ministry in Sabahiya area. A case was registered.

Meanwhile, firemen doused a fire that engulfed a pickup in Thaher area without any report of human casualty. Investigation is ongoing to determine the cause of fire.

Success sans effort

It happens only in Kuwait?By Ahmad Al-Sarraf

A few may have neither been angry nor ashamed of what I wrote last

Wednesday concerning the fake de-grees although it may have tainted their conscience.

The widespread scandal is not new because persons at all levels have bene-fited on the strength of fake certificates and degrees.

There are approximately thousands of people who actually hold interme-diate school certificates but have ac-quired jobs in the military and other places on the strength of fake degrees.

Many were promoted al-though they hold only high school certificates, while others who hold fake de-grees — university, Mas-ters, doctorate have found green pastures in the edu-cation and training sectors in the government.

Like others, I heard of a problem in the 1960s that some of those who never left Kuwait and were not bright students in their school days got doctor-ate degrees especially from Egypt and those include a former un-dersecretary, some educators, and oth-ers but they did not hurt anyone be-cause they worked in the private sector.

Almost all of us remember, until very recently when some well-known people and MPs met senior state of-ficials and took pictures with them on the occasion of obtaining higher de-grees and some of them could not even pronounce the name of the university — the university from which they pur-chased their degrees.

Of course, people must have not for-gotten what was published by the New York Times in May 2000 because we too had written about it. The scandal involving a Pakistani company which was convicted of selling thousands of university degrees -- Master’s and Doc-torate degrees -- in the names of pres-tigious US universities complete with seals endorsed by the universities pres-idents and US officials, including the then US Secretary of State John Kerry.

The Pakistani company made a for-tune especially from citizens of coun-tries in Africa and Asia, and the Gulf in particular. I published the names of many of them, and I do not remember if the Ministry of Education then moved to do something it.

It was nice that the Council of Min-isters last week asked the Minister of Education and Higher Education to

‘punish’ all those who are holding fake degrees, but we all know that proving this is a complex process.

This process will take a long time and this will be good enough to make us forget about the issue after preoc-cupying us with other scandals and is-sues. It may end up with condemning a few people, taking firm action against them, and no more.

The problem is actually complex as a large number of influential people are involved who now occupy sensitive po-sitions. There is another group of peo-ple who hold certificates and degrees but they have taken pains to study, but

unfortunately the universi-ties from which they quali-fied are not recognized.

Then again there are those who have received certificates and degrees from a well-known univer-sity but they are fakes and yet again there are a few who have obtained degrees and certificates from non-existent universities.

A trustworthy friend told me our embassy in Wash-ington had suggested to the Ministry of Education to

remove some students from unrecog-nized American universities and enroll them in better universities and extend the period of their scholarship to make up for the lost time because studying in non-reputable universities will cause harm to the homeland in future.

The Education Ministry rejected the interference of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in educational matters because the number of these students was rela-tively small but this ministry silence soon doubled that number of students.

Of course the problem of those who hold the Sharia certificates is wider and much bitter. Here we remind the read-ers of the scandal involving a cleric who has admitted to holding a fake doctorate degree for years.

Finally, I do not know if it is funny or sad that Kuwait is the only country in the world that has an association of PhD forgers which was formed to put pressure on the government to recog-nize their certificates and employ them on such basis.

Note: It has been rumored that an official in a health office has received $2 million from a known hospital for helping process the bills at a fast pace by the Ministry of Health. Who in the Ministry of Health denies the news?

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email: habibi.enta1@gmail.com

‘Stormers’ hearing today

Court upholds jail for ‘sheikh’By Jaber Al-Hamoud

Al-Seyassah Staff

KUWAIT CITY, July 16: The Court of Cassation, presided over by Judge Ahmad Al-Ajeel, has upheld the verdict of the lower court which sentenced a member of the royal family to three years in jail for uttering words deemed offensive to the entity of HH the Amir and for offend-ing Sheikh Mohammad Al-Abdullah and Sheikh Mubarak Al-Sabah.

Case files indicate the Public Prosecu-tion charged the defendant with uttering offensive words, criticizing the authority of HH the Amir and transgressing his enti-ty, as well as insulting Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah Al-Sabah and Sheikh Mubarak Abdullah Al-Sabah.

The accused posted the offensive state-ments on Snapchat, including pictures and videos against the plaintiffs. He is already serving the jail sentence.

Meanwhile, the Court of Appeals on Monday will deliberate on the case filed against 70 Kuwaitis, including nine for-mer lawmakers, accused of storming the National Assembly premises.

Case files indicate the prosecution cited misleading evidence, inference, manipula-tion of documents, wrong application and distortion of the law as reasons for appeal-ing the previous verdict on the acquittal of all defendants. The prosecution also urged the higher court to overturn the verdict of the lower court and then impose harsh penalties on the accused, whereas the de-fense team asked the court to listen to the testimonies of their witnesses.

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Expenses revoked: The Family Court revoked the rent expenses that were being paid to a woman who was given custody of her grandchildren after the children’s mother married a foreigner.

Other Voices

Al-Sarraf

Woman seeks divorce: A Kuwaiti woman has fi led a lawsuit against her husband asking to nullify the marriage because he abuses and insults her and calls her mother a ‘duck’, reports Al-Shahed daily.

The wife said she has many witnesses who can testify in court.

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Toy gun panic: Acting on information police rushed to a commercial mall in Fahaheel and seized a young man who is allegedly suffering from mental problems, reports Al-Shahed daily.

The suspect was armed with a toy gun and caused panic among the shoppers.

The youth has been referred to the Psychological Medicine Hospital.

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Drinking, gambling: Acting on infor-mation and armed with a search and arrest warrant issued by the Public Prosecution, police raided the outhouse of a Kuwaiti home in Shuhada and arrested fi ve Asians

for consuming locally-manufactured booze and gambling, reports Al-Shahed daily.

The men have been referred to the concerned authorities.

One of those arrested is reportedly working for the owner of the house.

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Fight at airport: Offi cers at the Kuwait International Airport in cooperation with the Farwaniya police have arrested a number of youths who were involved in a fi ght at the arrivals lounge at the Kuwait International Airport, reports Al-Shahed daily.

One of the youths who was injured was taken to a hospital.

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Cash stolen from car: Police are looking for an unidentifi ed burglar for breaking into the vehicle of a Kuwaiti man which was parked in front of his house in Sa’ad Al-Abdulla and stealing an envelope containing KD 5,650 and fi ve birth certifi -cates, reports Al-Anba daily.

News in Brief