Manama: A Kuwaiti lawmaker has called for a more vigilant monitoring of the funds raised ostensibly for acts of charity and benevolence.
“The list presented by the United Arab Emirates of the names of the terror cell plotting to undermine security in the UAE and in other Gulf countries stresses the urgent need for strong control and monitoring in Kuwait,” MP Safa Al Hashem said. “The ministries of interior and social affairs and labour must monitor the activities of the people and societies who engage in fundraising in Kuwait as well as the way massive funds are used or transferred,” she said in a statement published by Al Rai daily on Tuesday.
An iron fist must be used to deal with violators and all those who “plant the seeds of destruction”, the lawmaker, one of three women elected to the parliament in the December legislative elections, said.
“We have noted that some political figures and some expatriates have recently started raising and collecting funds without proper licencing from the competent ministry and without presenting evidence on the amount of funds,” she said. “We have also noted that some people place telephone calls to Kuwaiti homes to urge Kuwaiti nationals to donate money and they subsequently send delegates to collect the money without giving receipts that prove the donations,” she said.
Last month, security forces in the UAE arrested a cell of UAE and Saudi Arabian citizens which was planning to carry out militant attacks in both countries and other states.
In the same month, reports in the UAE said that an Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood cell was unearthed by the authorities and that it was “active in recruiting members in the country and collecting sensitive military information that posed serious threat to UAE security.”
Kuwaiti dailies said that the Muslim Brotherhood had a wide network in the Gulf and that it was raising money especially in Kuwait to fund its activities.
