“Trial without evidence” … the judiciary is inundated with “illicit enrichment” files



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Under the title: Lebanese judiciary drowns in archives of “illicit enrichment”, wrote Youssef Diab in a newspaperMiddle East“: The pace of the opening of corruption files in Lebanon has accelerated, targeting senior officials, military and security leaders, and may affect ministers and politicians at a later stage. Moving these cases together seemed like letters to some leaders and parties, at a time when opponents complain Any behavioral, administrative or judicial investigation starts from the ministries and departments that are the source of waste and the main cause of accumulation of public debt.

And in the new judicial files that emerged the case presented by the Case Authority of the Ministry of Justice before the Public Ministry of Discrimination, against 17 employees of the Ministry of Displaced persons for the crime of illicit enrichment, based on their recent declaration of their properties , based on the reform of the Illicit Enrichment Law. Discriminatory public officials have studied the investigation mechanism in this unprecedented measure, which is based on a new law by which all officials, presidents, ministers and representatives of the State can be prosecuted before the Judicial Power.

These lawsuits are not only an embarrassment to the defendants, but also confuse the prosecution, as a judicial source revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that “the new Illicit Enrichment Act allows anyone to sue any employee without evidence.” The cases against senior officials of the Ministry of Displaced Persons began after the latter declared their money and because of the disparity between their livelihoods and social conditions and the wages they receive. He considered that “the real confusion is the capacity of the Case Authority to present trials without evidence, and the request to the Public Ministry to seek evidence that convicts high officials and even ministers who lost their immunities under this law.”

Under the new law, employees must prove the sources of their wealth after criminal proceedings against them and their call for investigation, as soon as social appearances emerge. The former director of the Bar Association and former minister Rachid Derbas considered in a statement to Asharq Al-Awsat that “this campaign is not isolated from the so-called party of deception (Criminal Scrutiny), nor on obstructing the formation of the government.” “I am not sure of that judicial action is not affected by political pressure, “he said. Derbas pointed out that” the best way is that when someone accuses you of not managing the state, you accuse him of corruption. “The former head of the Bar Association stressed that” what we are witnessing now expresses the true image of the collapse of the state, and what we hear voices is the clash of the members of this state on the ground. “

Last Tuesday, the Beirut Prosecutor’s Office charged the former army commander, General Jean Kahwagi, and 6 other retired generals, including former intelligence chiefs, with the crime of “illicit enrichment, misuse of power and harvest of financial fortunes.” The first investigating judge in Beirut set next Thursday as the date for his questioning, while the General Directorate of Public Security admitted in a statement that “it began an investigation ten days ago with the military suspected of embezzlement.” He emphasized that the investigation “is carried out in complete secrecy and under the supervision of the competent judicial branch to determine those responsible and the value of the embezzled sums, if any.” Here, the judicial source explained that “the accusation against Kahwagi and his companions was based on documented information, including responses from banks that reveal the large amount of their deposits in banks.” He stressed that “when reviewing the real estate departments, it was found that each of them owns a series of properties and luxury homes.”

Source: Youssef Diab – Middle East

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