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The Lebanese parliament approved a recommendation that departments, ministries, institutions and the Central Bank be subject to criminal financial scrutiny.
This occurred in a parliamentary session held at the invitation of its president, Nabih Berri, to discuss the message of the President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, on the criminal financial audit, after the withdrawal of the specialized company from its mission for not delivering to the Central Bank all the required documents.
This recommendation arose as a result of the parliament voting in favor of the proposal of its president, Nabih Berri, in response to the message of President Aoun, to submit the accounts of the Banque du Liban, ministries, departments, councils, financial institutions, municipalities and funds, all in parallel to the criminal scrutiny without any hindrance or invoking bank secrecy or otherwise.
Berri had hoped, in a short speech he gave at the beginning of the session, that Parliament would unanimously pass the exhaustive scrutiny of the Bank of Lebanon and all sectors.
He later said: “We are facing a fateful session and the president’s message has come at the right time, and today we have seen a consensus among all the blocs that the scrutiny must be comprehensive and complete. Let us seize the opportunity and demonstrate to the people Lebanese and the entire world that we are working hard to address this file. ”
The deputy of the Free Patriotic Movement, Ibrahim Kanaan, asked the deputies to adopt an exceptional position that assures the Lebanese people of their right to know the destination of their deposits through a recommendation that asks to respond to the content of the president’s message asking that they be complete the criminal count at the Banque du Liban, in preparation for distribution to all state institutions and departments.
“We support Aoun’s message because it is consistent with the law and the constitution, and we must proceed with the criminal audit at the Banque du Liban as a start, and then we go to all state institutions, and the resigned government must appoint a new company to carry out the forensic audit and proceed, “said Lebanese Forces Deputy George Adwan.
He stressed that “the audit must begin with the accounts of the Banque du Liban, and that it must constitute a starting point for the audit of the accounts of other institutions and ministries.”
On the other hand, the Future Movement held the Ministry of Finance responsible and the deputy Samir al-Jisr rejected the accusations of his party that he did not want criminal scrutiny and said: “The Banque du Liban did not refrain from handing over the documents to the company. Álvarez and Marsal. To the Minister of Finance and he allowed him to deliver the other documents of the company, but he did not make the decision to deliver them, so he would not be the only person responsible for that.
He added: “We support the approval of the law in the House of Representatives so that the audit is mandatory in all state administrations.”
However, the deputy of the Amal Movement (headed by Berri) defended the Minister of Finance, Ghazeb Wazni, affiliated with the movement, and said: “The bloc was decisive in approving the criminal audit in the Council of Ministers.”
He added: “The Minister of Finance did not delay the audit work, nor did he delay the delivery of the documents to the company.”
Representative in the “Progressive Socialist Party” Hadi Abu Al-Hassan said that his party’s bloc clearly and frankly states that it is with full and exhaustive scrutiny in all ministries, departments, institutions, councils, accounts and funds without exception to show the truth.
Aoun’s message to Parliament came after the specialized company withdrew last week because it did not have enough documents from the Central Bank, which is armed with the bank secrecy law.
In his message, he requested the cooperation of the procedural authority to allow the state to carry out forensic accounting audits of Banque du Liban’s accounts and audit all public facilities in the state in order to achieve the desired reform and aid programs. .
He stressed that “the forensic audit is necessary so that Lebanon does not become one of the failed states in the eyes of the international community, and the continued refraining from delivering documents to the audit firm led to its inability to start its mission. and then terminated the contract, “describing the company’s withdrawal as a setback.
Last week, the “Álvarez y Misal” criminal financial auditing company informed Lebanon that it had terminated the contract to audit the Central Bank’s accounts, because it did not obtain the required documents, as announced by the Presidency of the Republic. .
The termination of the contract came despite the announcement of the finance minister in the interim government, Ghazi Wazni, earlier this month, to extend the deadline given to the Banque du Liban to hand over its data for 3 months after it failed. made within the period specified in the contract under the pretext of the bank secrecy law.
With accusations to the Governor of the Banque du Liban, Riad Salameh, for not receiving the documents, the bank had issued a statement about 3 weeks ago announcing that it had handed over all its accounts in accordance with the rules to the Minister of Finance.
He said the state could “request a detailed disclosure of all its accounts and then hand them over to whomever it deems appropriate to inform them,” as long as the Banque du Liban avoids violating legally binding confidentiality laws.
