Kuwait cancels contract extension with MP Shahid's company

Kuwait's Central Agency for Public Tenders has cancelled the extension of contract for cleaning services at Kuwait International Airport and its facilities, as the contract was concluded with the company of the Bangladeshi MP accused of money laundering and visa trading, Arab Times reported Tuesday.

Shahid Islam alias Kazi Papul, managing director and chief executive officer of Marafie Kuwaitia Group, was arrested on June 6 and is currently under the custody of security authorities along with a number of other suspects.

During interrogation by Kuwait's Public Prosecution, he confessed to bribing Kuwaiti officials millions of dollars to get job contracts and recruit foreign workers, mostly from Bangladesh.

Quoting sources, Arab Times reports that the Central Agency for Public Tenders explained that the decision to cancel the extension of the contract with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has been taken due to the suspension of the company's file in the Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) based on criminal investigations and charges against one of the owners of the company.

In the same context, sources confirmed that one of four companies owned by the Bangladeshi MP has many cleaning contracts with government agencies that are still valid, Arab Times reports.

Sources stressed the need to quickly address the problems related to contracts of the Bangladeshi MP before they exacerbate, given that the companies' accounts were seized by the Public Prosecution and it is not possible to liquidate them, it said.

They said failure to pay the salaries of ordinary cleaning workers might prompt them to go on strike and this could harm the work of government agencies, the newspaper reported.