By Khaled Al-Dihani
LONDON, Feb 28 (KUNA) -- The State of Kuwait is seeking to sign a memorandum of understanding with the United Kingdom on extradition of criminals namely convicts of public funds' embezzlement, a senior Kuwaiti official has announced.
Due to lack of such an accord between Kuwait and the UK, "some embezzlers of public funds have taken up refuge in Britain," revealed Kuwaiti Minister of Justice and Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Yaqoub Al-Sanee, in a statement to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA).
The Kuwaiti Government is keen on sparing no effort to tackle such legal shortcoming, in coordination with the British authorities, stressed Al-Sanee, as he emerged from a meeting with UK Secretary of State for Justice Chris Grayling, held on fringes of the recent Global Law Summit, hosted by Britain.
Minister Al-Sanee said the British official assured him during the meeting that the Kuwaiti request in this regard would be referred to relevant justice departments, adding that the Kuwaiti and British sides agreed on forming a contact group for information swap as a preliminary step toward crafting a full-fledged agreement in this regard.
Kuwaiti-UK relationship at the political and economic levels is distinguished, however there is need to improve the cooperation in the judicial realm, particularly regarding extradition of those wanted in public funds cases, he said, adding that he discussed with the British official, in presence of Kuwait's Public Prosecutor Dherar Al-Asousi, mutual cooperation in legal prosecution.
Secretary of State Grayling expressed understanding and keenness on endorsing such MoU, as well as on exchanging information in money laundering cases and terrorism combating, Minister Al-Sanee said.
For his part, Grayling described his talks with Minister Al-Sanee as positive and candid, affirming that the meeting would contribute to cementing the Kuwaiti-UK relations and serving common interests.
Other key topics concerning the bilateral ties were discussed during the meeting, he said, labelling the relationship between Kuwait and the UK as quite significant and expressing desire to bolster the mutual cooperation continuously.
These topics will be referred to specialized technical committees for further examination and studying means of taking relevant action at this level, he said.
Britain is a key partner for Kuwait in the face of numerous international challenges, Secretary Grayling said, hoping that such accords would pave way for stronger partnership between the two countries. (end) kd.rk