Kuwait suspends senior executives over penalty paid to Dow for a scrapped JV, orders judicial investigation

21-May-13

Kuwait's cabinet suspended on Thursday several senior oil executives over a $2.2 billion penalty paid to Dow Chemical for scrapping a joint venture and ordered a judicial investigation into the matter, an official statement said. The decision was taken at an extraordinary meeting, which also decided to appoint a new chief executive officer for national oil conglomerate Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC). The cabinet decided to "take the necessary measures to suspend senior officials at (state-owned) Petrochemicals Industries Co (PIC)," which arranged the joint project with Dow Chemical before it was scrapped by the government in December 2008. The cabinet also asked its legal agency to initiate legal action by referring the issue to the public prosecution, which will launch an investigation into the deal.