KUWAIT CITY - The Kuwaiti government has accepted the resignation of finance minister Mustafa al-Shamali who quit last week following a grilling in parliament, an official statement said on Monday.
"The prime minister has informed the cabinet that the resignation of the finance minister has been accepted," said a statement following the weekly cabinet meeting.
Education Minister Nayef al-Hajraf has been appointed acting finance minister, the statement added.
Shamali's resignation was the first from the cabinet formed in mid-February following a snap general election in which the opposition won a majority in the 50-member parliament.
Shamali, who was finance minister for five years, resigned on Thursday following a marathon 11-hour questioning in parliament over alleged financial and administrative irregularities which the minister categorically denied.
He was grilled by three opposition lawmakers who accused him of being responsible for wide-ranging violations that are estimated to have cost the oil-rich Gulf state billions of dollars.
Kuwait, OPEC's third largest producer, has been rocked since 2006 by a series of political crises that led to the resignation of the cabinet several times and parliament being dissolved on four occasions.
