Subtitles:
* Denial of the declaration of the Qa’eda organization official
* The Kuwaiti government closed 127 charity institutions operating illegally
* Prohibited table donation... A four-man council a to follow up the activity of the acknowledged charity institutions
Why is Kuwait interested in such an action? The answer is that these are necessary procedures after the claim of the Qa’eda organization that the Gulf countries are the largest financial resources of the organization. Besides, the USA required the Kuwaiti government to tightly control such institutions.
The four-man council in charge of controlling the charity council asked for a clear opinion about the legality of the Kuwaiti charitable institutions and how far they are related to terrorism. They tried to get such information by contacting the foreign ministries of the countries, where such institutions are located prior to crediting them to receive donations...
The Kuwaiti government agreed to remove all unlicensed charity kiosks. It also prohibited donation tables, whether in the mosques, the societies or in the market-places. The ministry of [Social] Affairs demanded that the removal of these be speeded up.
One of the decisions taken was to form an office in the ministry of Social Affairs to control the income and expenditure of the charitable societies. And every three months these societies have to present a fiscal report to the ministry.
In the ministry the people in charge insist that the Kuwaiti government will not limit the role of the charitable societies because of the help they offer to the poor. But it was lately computed that the amounts shown in the reports of the charitable societies are not the real figures because the donors do not want to expose where the donations are spent. (The societies inform the ministry about the donations received and spent.)
Tarek El-Abbassi, chairman of The Revival of Islamic Culture Society, declared that a committee has been formed to regulate and follow up the charity procedures, according to the rules of the High Committee.
The High Committee does not take any decisions about giving licenses to unlicensed societies’ branches, or make any changes in the way donations are collected, during the month of Ramadan.
Concerning the charity operations, on behalf of the government Sheikh Ahmed El-’Ahd, the minister of mass media, declared that local political activities should not affect charity but rather regulate it.
Prime Minister Sheikh Sabbah El-Ahmed declared that Kuwait does apply the decree issued by the United Nations to control the charity societies and regulate their financial activities. He added that a new system would be enforced to ensure that 60-70% of the collected amounts are spent on charitable activities in Kuwait. Yet, if a citizen recommends spending his donation at an outside location [that is outside Kuwait], he has the right to do that.
Sheikh Sabbah also confirmed that until now the Kuwaiti government has not been accused of being involved in financing any terrorist organizations. He also affirmed that control is exercised on the part of the Central Bank not just over the size of the donations, but also over the activities on which such donations are spent, to make sure that they are carried out according to the law.
He also indicated that the governmental procedures are for the benefit of charity activity and not against it. He also indicated the importance of removing any suspicion from the Kuwaiti charitable societies, to enable them continue their activities, whether inside or outside Kuwait.
