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Minia Observatory – Lebanon
The Lebanese judiciary, last night, Wednesday, filed a lawsuit against the former army commander, General “Jean Kahwagi” and seven other officers, in the first accusation of its kind since the approval of the new illicit enrichment law. .
The Lebanese News Agency confirmed that “the government commissioner to the military court, Acting Judge Fadi Akiki, conducted an investigation involving a large number of first-class officers, targeting property, companies and funds.”
The Lebanese Parliament passed the Illicit Enrichment Law last September, under which officials and politicians accused of corruption can be held accountable, in accordance with article 11 of the law.
In addition, the media agency confirmed that the Attorney General of Appeal in Beirut, Judge Ziyad Abu Haidar, claimed that General Kahwaji, who served as commander of the army between 2008 and 2017, in addition to seven officers.
The House of Representatives passed two anti-corruption laws, on the one hand, to calm the streets and satisfy the international community, which calls on Lebanon to make the necessary reforms to obtain financial support to emerge from the economic collapse.
In turn, a judicial source claimed that among the affected soldiers, the former director of Kahwaji’s office was retired Brigadier General “Muhammad Jaafar al-Husseini”, retired Major General “Abd al-Rahman Shehitli”, the Former Intelligence Director, Brigadier General “Kamil Daher”, Former Intelligence Director, Brigadier General “Edmond Fadelier” Former Beirut: Retired Brigadier General “George Khamis”, Former Northern Intelligence Director, Retired Brigadier General “Amer Al-Hassan” and retired Lieutenant Colonel of Public Security “Ahmed Al-Jamal”.
And judicial sources indicated that the investigation revealed that the size of the officers’ properties, real estate, cars and houses does not correspond to the value of the salaries and compensation they received after retirement.
It should be noted that the Director of the Regional Project for the Fight against Corruption and Promotion of Integrity of the United Nations Development Program in the Arab Countries, “Arkan Al Sablani”, estimated the size of corruption in Lebanon at approximately 9 percent of annual gross product, equivalent to $ 5 billion annually, according to 2019 data.
Lebanon is suffering from a suffocating economic crisis, as a result of high rates of external public debt to 90 billion dollars, the escalation of poverty rates to more than 50 percent and the increase in unemployment to 35 percent, in between from United Nations warnings that hunger threatens more than one million in Lebanon during the year. Present.
