Manama: Shaikh Nasser Mohammad Al Ahmad Al Sabah, the first prime minister to be questioned by Kuwait's parliament since its establishment in 1962, has deplored some MPs "spoiling the good atmosphere" in parliament by submitting a non-cooperation motion after the session on Tuesday.
Ten MPs presented the motion in the aftermath of a marathon session that had Shaikh Nasser replying to questions concerning alleged financial irregularities. The parliament will discuss the session's outcome on December 16, Speaker Jasem Al Khurafi said.
MP Faisal Al Muslim claimed he was in possession of hard evidence of financial irregularities at Shaikh Nasser's court. The lawmaker produced a $700,000 (Dh2.56 million) cheque signed by Shaikh Nasser favouring a former MP at the time when the court's expenses were audited.
Al Muslim demanded to know the reason for handing the cheque to the lawmaker, insinuating possibilities of corruption.
Denial
However, Shaikh Nasser denied the charges and insisted that the money was part of a private activity and not from the state budget.
Shaikh Nasser said he would sue Al Muslim for breach of privacy.
The move to quiz Shaikh Nasser, a nephew of the Emir, has divided Kuwait's parliament and population.
However, Shaikh Nasser said he was ready to be questioned along with three other ministers also charged by other MPs with financial and administrative irregularities.
The Kuwait government, however, insisted that Shaikh Nasser's questioning had to be behind closed doors because of the sensitive nature of the information likely to be divulged.
Several MPs opposed this, insisting that the questioning be public as a secret session would defeat its very purpose.
The government eventually won the right to have a secret question session.
The questioning lasted several hours with Al Muslim arguing his case for 90 minutes before Shaikh Nasser gave his explanations for 30 minutes.
The first part of the session ended at around 1pm and the second part began around 15 minutes later. Al Muslim took another 30 minutes to respond while Shaikh Nasser took 30 minutes to present his case.
However, MPs who opposed Shaikh Nasser had already prepared their next move and within minutes of the end of the session, filed a non-cooperation motion. Constitutionally, they had up to seven days to file the motion.
Shaikh Nasser was graceful following the grilling.
"Despite the insistence of a few people to spoil the good atmosphere by submitting a non-cooperation motion, I would like to express my profound gratitude to my brothers in the parliament for their high level of consciousness and political maturity superbly displayed during the quizzing," he said.
"Even though the themes of the quizzing were unconstitutional, I have been keen on clarifying the matter from a realistic and politic point of view. I deeply believe in democracy and I found it my duty to face the questioning despite all the constitutional and legal violations in the questioning about the expenditures of the premier's court and expenses from a private account," he added.
Al Muslim said: "I salute the courage of His Highness the Prime Minister who accepted the grilling. I must stress that such practices reinforce the interests of the nation and the people."
The motion will now be reviewed by parliament. Two MPs from each side will argue for and against the prime minister's impeachment before parliament takes a decision.
If the motion has the backing of the majority of the MPs, it will go to the Emir who will decide either to replace the prime minister or dissolve parliament.
