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After the proliferation of international and local condemnations to the political class of waste and corruption in the face of the state of financial and economic collapse that the country has reached, the reform of the Illicit Enrichment Law came as a window of light in this long tunnel of evasion of responsibilities and punishments under the guise of immunities that hide behind the occupants of public office.
Although the law is not new, but was approved in 1953, it remained without the possibility of applying it to ministers and deputies, considering them protected by the immunity of article 70 of the Constitution in matters of non-compliance with labor duties.
Article 70 of the Council of Representatives stipulates that “the prime minister and ministers are accused of committing high treason or breach of their duties, and only a two-thirds majority of the total members of parliament can be prosecuted. A special law specifies the conditions of responsibility of the prime minister and human rights ministers. “
With the approval by parliament yesterday of the law on illicit enrichment, modified by the subcommittee of the subcommittees headed by deputy Ibrahim Kanaan, after studying it in depth for months and introducing structural amendments that allowed accountability, the crime of illicit enrichment it has become a crime not subject to article 70 of the Constitution and is being tried. It includes the prime minister, ministers, deputies and those who hold public office before the judiciary without immunities.
Article 11 of the approved law stipulates that “the crime of enrichment is considered a normal crime and is subject to the jurisdiction of the judiciary.”
The approval of the law was greeted by United Nations anti-corruption adviser Arkan Sablani, who tweeted: “An achievement in Lebanon today. Parliament passed deep and comprehensive amendments to the law on illicit enrichment. The fruit of a long road. cooperation between a group “. Of the parliamentarians and experts of the United Nations. This would establish a new phase in accountability and accountability. The lesson is in the implementation. Be careful with appeals. Be careful of the obstruction. Beware of the ridiculous. “
Kanaan highlighted during a press conference held on Wednesday that “this law was not applied in its previous form, and was amended in 1954, 1999 and 2017, and the current process of accountability for the use of work for personal purposes, corruption and bribery is still absent, because it is considered protected by a constitutional immunity that prevents the president. ” The minister and the deputy are the trial before the Ordinary Judicial Power, today, after the reform, no one has immunity and the crime of corruption, theft and bribery is not covered by immunity.
Consequently, the sanction of this law is considered a great breach of the wall of immunities behind which the owners of the swollen pockets of those who have chosen to take advantage of their official positions hide, and a good indication inside and outside that the intention is get out of the cycle of impunity.
