Financial Risk:

High

Score:

33/100

Asset Disposals

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Q24 8/100

How effective are controls over the disposal of assets, and is information on these disposals, and the proceeds of their sale, transparent?

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Controls Score: 0 / 100
The financial departments inside security agencies are in charge of asset disposals and these activities are internally and externally audited, but there is reason…
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Transparency of disposal process Score: 0 / 100
The security agencies, Finance Ministry and auditing agencies do not publish any information about individual asset disposal deals. The Finance Ministry is the only…
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Transparency of financial results of disposals Score: 25 / 100
The ministries in question do not release any information about these deals. The Finance Ministry does publish an aggregate figure for the deals done…
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Q25 8/100

Is independent and transparent scrutiny of asset disposals conducted by defence establishments, and are the reports of such scrutiny publicly available?

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Scrutiny Score: 25 / 100
Both the military and the executive branch undermine the internal audits in general and not just the ones concerning audit disposals, auditors said (1,…
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Independence Score: 0 / 100
Both the military and the executive branch undermine the independence of both the internal auditors and the external auditors, the aforementioned officials said (1,…
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Transparency Score: 0 / 100
Both the internal and external audit reports are never made public, auditors said (1, 2 and 3). The external bodies like the SAB, however,…
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Secret Budgets

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Q26 25/100

What percentage of defence and security expenditure in the budget year is dedicated to spending on secret items relating to national security and the intelligence services?

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Score: 25 / 100
More than eight percent of the budgets of security and defence agencies are spent on unknown projects, the state budget breakdowns show. In 2017/2018,…
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Q27 25/100

Is the legislature (or the appropriate legislative committee or members of the legislature) given full information for the budget year on the spending of all secret items relating to national security and military intelligence?

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Score: 25 / 100
The defence committee receives the full budget for secret items, but it is generalised into vague categories and with few explanations, both a lawmaker…
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Q28 13/100

Are audit reports of the annual accounts of the security sector (the military and intelligence services) subject to parliamentary debate?

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Comprehensiveness Score: 25 / 100
Legislators are provided with detailed audit reports that discuss the entirety of defence expenditure but that may be missing key details particularly ones about…
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Parliamentary scrutiny Score: 0 / 100
Lawmakers often question the military and other security bodies on the findings of these reports but they almost never follow up with punitive actions,…
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Q29 50/100

In law, are off-budget military expenditures permitted, and if so, are they exceptional occurrences that are well-controlled? In practice, are there any off-budget military expenditures? If so, does evidence suggest this involves illicit economic activity?

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Permitted exceptions Score: 100 / 100
Off-budget expenses are not permitted, according to article 141 of the constitution (1), which says that no Government agency can spend public funds without…
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Recording mechanisms Score: 50 / 100
Even though the aforementioned secret expenses are recorded, the information is always filed under vague categories in the budget like “buying non-current assets.” And…
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Prevalence Score: 0 / 100
There is substantial official spending on activities, services and equipment that are entirely unspecified but there is no reason to believe that it is…
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Q30 0/100

Are mechanisms for accessing information from the defence sector effective?

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Legal framework Score: 0 / 100
There is no legislation that says the public has the right to access any defence information, (1, 2, 3 and 4). The country does…
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Classification of information Score: NS / 100
This sub-indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. There is no legal framework according to which information is classified and protected, officials…
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Effectiveness Score: 0 / 100
The only manner in which the public can access information from the defence sector is by pressuring lawmakers, who have the right to demand…
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Q31 50/100

Do national defence and security institutions have beneficial ownership of commercial businesses? If so, how transparent are details of the operations and finances of such businesses?

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Extent of commercial ventures Score: 100 / 100
The Kuwaiti military, police and KNG do not own any commercial businesses, according to current and former officials, journalists and activists (1, 2, 3,…
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Transparency Score: 0 / 100
A monthly aggregate figure for the business dealings of the security agencies is published every month by the Finance Ministry but the Ministry does…
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Military-owned Businesses

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Q32 100/100

Are military-owned businesses subject to transparent independent scrutiny at a recognised international standard?

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Independent scrutiny Score: 100 / 100
There is no reason to think that the defence and security institutions own any businesses, according to activists, journalists and former and current officials…
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Transparency Score: NA / 100
This sub-indicator has been marked Not Applicable because it is unlikely that military-owned businesses exist. With regards to individually-owned businesses, only a summary of…
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Illegal Private Enterprise

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Q33 50/100

Is there evidence of unauthorised private enterprise by military or other defence ministry employees? If so, what is the government’s reaction to such enterprise?

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Prohibition Score: 50 / 100
Even though the institutions do not own commercial business, there are some military and police employees, who do not control or represent these organisations,…
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Prevalence Score: 50 / 100
The aforementioned unauthorised business activities are common in the Defence and Interior ministries, former and current officials said (1, 2, 3 and 4). These…
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Actual Military Spending

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Q77 31/100

Is comprehensive data on actual spending on defence published during the budget year?

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Proactive publication Score: 25 / 100
Figures from the security agencies and other Government bodies for actual spending are published on the Finance Ministry’s website monthly but they are broken…
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Comprehensiveness Score: 50 / 100
Most of the budget is disclosed to the public, CSOs and the media but it does not come with a detailed breakdown of the…
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Timeliness Score: 50 / 100
As discussed earlier, most details of actual spending are published in summary form without clear categories within a month of the actual spending decisions,…
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Comparison against budget Score: 0 / 100
Variances between the published budget and actual spending are never explained (1, 2, 3 and 4).
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