The Imad Othman Heresy

Major Ali Jaffal, commander of the Judicial Sub-District Detachment, disrupted the leadership of the General Directorate of Internal Security Forces in the context of the investigations he undertook in the Central Bank cases, the most recent of which was the suspicion of robbery. of dollars destined to the importation of “subsidized” goods and the collusion of tellers to manipulate the value of the national currency. This officer was the same one who opened the BDL file and caused the arrest of the director of cash operations in it, Mazen Hamdan, on suspicion of smuggling dollars and threatening the security of the national currency. It also led to the arrest of SGBL’s director of cash operations, Karim Khoury, on suspicion of participating in smuggling dollars out of Lebanon. Jaffal also supported the opening of the file of the money changers and summoned some 30 banking companies for their investigation. Judge Ghada Aoun supervised their investigations and charged the suspects each time.

The door Jaffal knocked on was prohibited. This embarrassed the top of the Directorate in front of the Central Bank Governor, Riyad Salameh, and applauded the annoying official until two days ago a court order was issued specifically to restrict him. The Director General of the Internal Security Forces, Division General Imad Othman, decided, in the memorandum, to prevent Jafal from participating in the investigations, through legal heresy, which he invented under the title of “lack of duplication in implementation of the investigation procedures “. Othman prohibited officers and NCOs from participating in investigations with prosecutors. He said it publicly: “Either the judges conduct the investigation, or we do it”, and in his case he says: “We are not writers for anyone.” He said it a little flirtatious. Othman forgot that the judicial police is their main function to assist the judge in the investigation, even if that requires that he keep the investigation files or write what the judge stipulates.
The Director General issued a memorandum to management officials detailing Major Jaffal’s move. He did not mention the name of the officer who caused such an uproar. Othman asked unit commanders to inform investigating officers and officers “not to implement investigative procedures in judicial departments or to act as secretaries for investigations in public prosecutor’s offices.” He asked the agents and agents of the investigation to respond to the inquiries of the Public Ministry on the investigations carried out under their supervision, allowing in this case, if necessary, to go to the attorney or attorney general to clarify the course of the investigation. Othman criticized what he called “the fact that some officials go to the Attorney General’s Office for Appeals to implement the investigation procedures assigned to them, especially listening to people’s statements, while the rest of the procedures are carried out in their centers. “. It started from the articles of Law No. 328 (Criminal Procedure Code) related to the competences of the Public Ministry, indicating that “the first of them is to carry out the initial investigation of the crimes witnessed and not witnessed, provided that this investigation leads it to The judicial police are carried out when the Public Ministry cannot initiate it on its own, provided that the official takes into account The justice system, in its procedures, established the rules for the Attorney General. Othman said that “in consideration of the interest of the service and to avoid duplication in the implementation of the investigation procedures,” he considered that “the investigation should be carried out by the prosecution or the judicial police.”
Days before, and together with Ghada Aoun’s decision to summon the governor of the Central Bank, the agents of the Directorate reported that the chief of the Judicial Police, Brigadier General Maher al-Halabi, asked Major Jaffal to take a open license. This was a direct request for him to stay away, in an ornate manner, from the investigation of the file of alleged theft of dollars in “subsidized” property. However, other officials quoted Jaffal as saying that he was fired of his own free will due to “the disgust of dealing with the investigations he conducts, which are closed to Qadir’s ability.”
Yesterday, the governor of the Banque du Liban, Riad Salameh, attended the investigation before Judge Aoun in the file of the waste in the subsidized dollar. The judge requested the presence of Major Jaffal to assist her in the interrogation of Salameh, since he took charge of the field investigations. However, the officer told him that he could not do so on the instructions of his superiors. This coincided with the issuance of a statement of punishment against the major, due to the confusion between him and his boss, Brigadier General Hussein Saleh, in the context of the illegal seizure of a driver who “recommended” Saleh. Here, the Directorate accused Jafal of going to the office of judge Aoun, carrying the telegram of the director general and the declaration of punishment, to inform him that he is being sanctioned for being involved with her in the investigations. However, judicial sources deny that Jaffal had complained to Aoun about his superiors. Judge Aoun’s sources reveal that Brigadier General Hussein Saleh called her and asked her to transfer the file of support dollars from the Judicial District Detachment to the Office of Financial Crimes, but she refused, denouncing her interference in what it does not concern you.

Retaliation from an officer who dared to open the bank and ATM file

Aoun sent a written authorization requesting Jafal to come to his office to assist her in the investigation with Salameh, but the major replied that he was informed of an order from his superiors not to help her. She informed him that she was his leader in the investigation, under the Code of Criminal Procedure. Aoun then called Brigadier General Saleh to ask him to send the officer to assist her in the investigation, and he informed her of the refusal on the order of Major General Othman. Aoun told him, “You are breaking the law. Are you a military or a law enforcement officer? “Tlasen happened and Saleh confirmed that Major Jaffal would not go to his office. Thus, Aoun considered that it refused to implement a judicial decision, and this is a flagrant crime against a prosecutor, for which he charged Saleh and Othman together before the first investigating judge in Baabda, Nicolas Mansour, for the crime of breach of his duties.
News of the accusation has spread. This caused Major Jaffal to be hastily summoned for investigation by the Information Section, on Othman’s order. This coincided with information about a move by Major General Othman to remove Major Jaffal from office and transfer him to another center, according to a telegram being prepared.
Officers in the directorate, including his leadership, agree that Major Jaffal is one of the most honest officers in the security forces. Nobody doubts his discipline, sincerity and commitment to the law, but they accuse him of his rigor and sharpness in the application of the law and of his “excessive idealism”. However, it is clear that General Othman decided to set an angry example to his colleagues. In the dictionary of the Director General of the Internal Security Forces there are two prohibitions: abide by the law and injure the interests of the class that he promised to protect, and the most prominent of his symbols is the governor of the bank, Riad Salameh, the owners of banks and money changers.

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