Hot on the Trail of the $290 Pastry Knife

June 28, 2001 9:10 am EST

KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwait is to launch an inquiry into how its Defense Ministry managed to pay $290 for a single pastry knife and $4,000 for a meat tenderizer.

The latest row over prices of supplies to government departments emerged during an 11-hour parliamentary session in the Gulf Arab state on Wednesday during which MPs made claims of state corruption, especially in the Defense Ministry.

Defense Minister Sheikh Jaber al-Hamad al-Sabah promised the investigation late on Wednesday night.

MP Waleed al-Jerri showed the chamber what he said were original tender documents, reminding the house of a scandal in the mid-1990s when a supplier charged the defense ministry some $40 per head of lettuce.

Acting Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah assured parliament that the government will combat "all that is corrupt, including within the military establishment."

[Bet you thought it had something to do with the Clintons. LOL]

-- Anonymous, July 01, 2001