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WASHINGTON – On Friday, the US Treasury announced financial sanctions against influential Lebanese politician Gebran Bassil, President Michel Aoun’s son-in-law and a Hezbollah ally, for his involvement in “corruption” and embezzlement of state funds.
The ministry said in a statement that the sanctions mean freezing all assets belonging to Basil in the United States. And he asked Lebanese banks that trade in US dollars to freeze all their assets in Lebanon.
Among the reasons cited in the statement is that Bassil, who “held senior positions in the Lebanese government, including the Minister of Communications, the Minister of Energy and Water, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates”, is involved in “major accusations of corruption”.
“In 2017, Basil strengthened his political base by appointing friends to his positions, and in 2014, when he was Minister of Energy, he approved several projects that would direct funds from the Lebanese government to people close to him through a group of front companies,” said.
The ministry also said that Bassil is “responsible, complicit or directly or indirectly involved in corruption, including the misappropriation of state assets and the confiscation of private assets for personal gain.” He also spoke of corruption “related to government contracts, the extraction of natural resources or bribery.”
Basil, 50, is considered one of the closest people to Aoun, whom he considers his political heir. He is the head of the Free Patriotic Movement led by the President of the Republic. Since Aoun assumed the presidency in 2018, Bassil is widely seen as a “shadow president”, since he is the one who negotiates by the current of the president during the formation of governments and was one of the most present in the political arena and the more controversial.
Bassil said in a tweet on his Twitter account that the sanctions imposed on him by the United States on Friday do not scare him, adding: “Neither the sanctions scared me nor the promises attracted me. I do not turn against any Lebanese nor save myself so that Lebanon perish. “
The Christian politician had previously faced harsh criticism on the Lebanese street, and protesters accused him of corruption. He also faced Western criticism and embarrassed Hadley Gamble, host of the US channel “CNBC,” during a seminar on the sidelines of the Davos Forum last January, when he was foreign minister.
The presenter asked, “How did you get to this forum? Did you come on a private plane?” And “How can a Lebanese minister who receives 5,000 dollars a month rent a private plane? Is it from the family’s money?” Basil replied, “No, it is a gift from a friend. I came here with an invitation.”
The host commented sarcastically, “I hope I have friends like these.” And here, Sigrid Kaag, the Dutch Trade Minister and former United Nations Special Coordinator in Lebanon, chimed in and said: “When we are in government, we are prohibited from having such friends.”
