Kuwait pursues corruption charges in Eurofighter plane deal

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Kuwait’s government said Monday it had referred two senior military officers for prosecution in a major corruption case related to the country’s purchase of Eurofighter Typhoon combat planes , after an investigation into the jets’ improperly inflated price.

The Anti-Corruption Authority said that a major general and colonel in Kuwait’s Army would face prosecutors over their alleged misuse of public funds, the latest corruption case to rock the oil-rich sheikhdom. Officials are ramping up a long-flagging campaign toward greater accountability as government graft increasingly causes public and parliamentary consternation.

Kuwait ordered 28 Eurofighter Typhoon jets, made by a consortium of European companies, in 2016 under a contract valued at some $8.7 billion. The first two planes in the order joined Kuwait’s Air Force last month.

The high cost of the deal raised eyebrows when compared with similar purchases of the combat planes across the Middle East as many Gulf Arab states went on spending sprees amid the region’s grinding conflicts.

Qatar, for instance, paid an estimated $6.9 billion for just 24 of the same jets with shipments beginning next year. For a total of 72 Typhoons, Saudi Arabia paid an estimated $6 billion, albeit for an older generation of planes. The kingdom also reached a deal with the British government valued at some $5 billion to purchase an additional 48 planes a decade later.

The Kuwaiti Anti-Corruption Authority’s investigations into the deal revealed that the Army officers “caused grave damage to public money by issuing inflated bills to the manufacturer that exceeded the total value agreed upon in the main contract,” the country’s state-run KUNA news agency reported.

The authorities thanked an unnamed whistleblower for helping the government obtain information about the misuse of funds and said efforts to collect and examine evidence continue.

It wouldn’t be the first scandal to cast a shadow over Kuwait’s Army. The embezzlement of nearly $800 million from Kuwait’s military aid fund forced the resignation of the government two years ago. The former prime minister and defense minister remain detained pending trial.

Activists believe corruption runs rampant through the region of oil-rich Gulf Arab sheikhdoms, but public criminal cases against senior officials are rare.

阿联酋迪拜——科威特政府周一表示，在对飞机价格被不当抬高进行调查后，已将两名高级军官移交检方，以调查该国购买欧洲台风战斗机一案中的重大腐败案件。

科威特反腐败局表示，一名陆军少将和一名陆军上校将因涉嫌滥用公款而面临检方起诉。这是近期震惊这个石油资源丰富的酋长国的最新一起腐败案件。随着政府贪污腐败日益引发公众和议会的担忧，官员们正加紧推进一项长期以来进展缓慢的问责制改革运动。

2016年，科威特向一家欧洲公司组成的财团订购了28架欧洲台风战斗机，合同价值约87亿美元。首批两架飞机已于上个月加入科威特空军。

与中东地区类似的战斗机采购相比，这笔交易的高昂成本令人侧目，因为许多海湾阿拉伯国家在该地区持续不断的冲突中大肆挥霍。

例如，卡塔尔斥资约69亿美元购买了24架同款战机，预计将于明年开始交付。沙特阿拉伯则斥资约60亿美元购买了72架台风战机，尽管这些战机属于较老一代的机型。此外，沙特阿拉伯还与英国政府达成了一项价值约50亿美元的协议，计划在十年后再购买48架战机。

据科威特国家通讯社KUNA报道，科威特反腐败局对该交易的调查显示，军官们“向制造商开具了超出主合同约定总价值的虚高账单，对公共资金造成了严重损害”。

当局感谢一位不愿透露姓名的举报人帮助政府获取有关滥用资金的信息，并表示收集和审查证据的工作仍在继续。

这并非科威特军方首次遭遇丑闻。两年前，科威特军方援助基金近8亿美元的挪用案迫使政府辞职。前首相和国防部长目前仍被拘留，等待审判。

活动人士认为，在石油资源丰富的海湾阿拉伯酋长国地区，腐败现象十分猖獗，但针对高级官员的公开刑事案件却很少见。