A Parliamentary Committee Reveals the Extent of Corruption in the Saudi-backed Government
The pro-coalition parliament in Maeen’s government has acknowledged the rampant corruption in the electricity sector in areas controlled by the coalition, describing it as a “black hole devouring public funds as a result of the spread of corruption and existing imbalances.”
Follow-up / Al-Khabar Al-Yemeni:
The pro-coalition parliament said in the report of the “Parliamentary Committee for Fact-Finding” that the electricity sector has burdened the state and its citizens, emphasizing that the Presidential Council did not adhere to its decisions regarding this regard and neglected to address the electricity situation in Aden and other provinces under the control of the Ma’een government.
According to him, the Ma’een government has failed miserably to solve Aden’s electricity crisis, as evidenced by the fact that “as the generating capacity decreased to less than half of what was targeted, the deficit has increased to 75%, and in recent times, around 80% of the power generation system has ceased to operate, resulting in an average of 18 hours of power outages compared to 6 hours of illumination.”
The government spends an estimated $100–150 million per month on fuel and other purchased energy for power plants, according to the parliamentary report, which is astonishing. The allocated budget for electricity in 2022 totaled 569 billion riyals (excluding the institution’s budget and the grant for oil derivatives), making it the highest support budget for electricity in the same year and making up 85% of the overall budget for economic unit support. But instead of having any effect on the ground, this caused a large rise in power outages.
According to the report, “an amount of 557 billion riyals was allocated to suppliers from the support budget for 2022 as dues to suppliers of electricity fuel and suppliers of materials and previous spare parts.”
The pro-coalition parliament confirmed that fuel procurement processes “are not carried out in accordance with legal and proper procedures due to the disruption of the tenders’ law, the absence of the tenders committee, and the examination of fuel used outside specifications and standards, as evidenced by the catastrophe to which the city of Aden is exposed due to adulterated diesel and its poor quality.”