Kuwaiti MPs head to UK to check on sovereign wealth fund’s London office

Kuwaiti lawmakers scrutinising the country’s sovereign wealth fund departed to Britain on Friday to check the activities of its London bureau, Kuwait’s parliament said in a statement on the state news agency.

The MPs travelled to London to “investigate happenings” at the fund’s London office and will stay there till August, the National Assembly was quoted as saying. The fund, which has usually operated in great secrecy, did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.

The head of the financial committee, Faisal Al Shaya, told Reuters on July 13 that MPs on a special committee looking at the fund would travel after Eid al-Fitr, the celebratory days after Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting. They plan to check how investments are being made and whether enough official oversight exists.

He declined then to elaborate on progress in the investigation into potential cases of wrongdoing at KIA, such as selling property at the wrong price or making bad investments.

The KIA, which invests Kuwait’s oil wealth, is one of the world’s biggest sovereign funds and is believed to manage about $592bn, according to the U.S.-based Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute, which tracks the sector.