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And after MP Ibrahim Kanaan was in favor of transferring the four proposals to the Finance and Budget Committee in preparation to come out with a formula, he returned and insisted on resolving the matter in session without delay, asking for the strong bloc’s proposal. of Lebanon, because it is the most far-reaching (lifting the secrecy associated with the criminal audit is not limited and it is not limited) On the audit of the Banque du Liban). Representative Hassan Fadlallah also insisted that the law be passed at the session, to oblige the Banque du Liban to cooperate with the criminal audit without invoking bank secrecy, stating that the bank had previously circumvented Parliament’s decision (it did not transfer its accounts to the Ministry of Finance, but transferred the accounts of the ministries and public administrations).
At the insistence of the three forces – the current one – Hezbollah to proceed with the scrutiny, the only thing left for the Council was to discuss the text of the law. Deputy Ali Hassan Khalil took over the leadership. He considered that the forces’ proposal is the most susceptible to implementation, because it limits the lifting of secrecy to one year until criminal scrutiny. However, he insisted on linking the proposal to the decision previously adopted by Parliament, according to which “the accounts of the Banque du Liban, ministries, independent interests, municipalities, funds and public institutions will be subject, in parallel, to criminal scrutiny without any impediment or invoking bank or other secrecy ”.
Those seeking forensic scrutiny obtained the warrant. This is an indication that the law will pass. Therefore, the proposal of the Minister of Justice, Marie-Claude Negm, was not complied with, who considered that the link to the council’s decision should be mentioned in the positive reasons and not in the text of the law. In discussing the final formula between the Canaan trio, Adwan, Fadlallah and Najm, the latter dismantled a mine requesting confirmation of previous government decisions (so that the new government would not wait for a new decision to be passed). The Khalil Badr MPs who are preparing the final version jokingly: What are they doing? The law is in the press, while future representatives have threatened to withdraw approval of the law, if the text is changed. As a result, the proposal presented by the forces was adopted as a rule, with some modifications to it, in terms of generalization of the scrutiny and link with the decision of the House of Representatives. The law establishes the following: “The bank secrecy law promulgated on 03/09/1956 and all the articles that refer to it will be suspended for a period of one year from the date of publication of this law in all matters related to it. with financial audit and criminal investigation operations decided and decided by the government in the accounts of the Central Bank, the nature of these accounts, ministries, administrations, public institutions, bodies, councils and funds, as stated in the decision of Parliament, and for the purposes of this audit and exclusively in the interest of those responsible. The effect of the suspension includes all accounts that go into audits.
The Bank Party will spare no effort to obstruct the audit process
The text eliminates the suspicion that commercial banks are not included in it, by referring to all accounts that enter the audit process. However, it does not directly address the issue of concurrency or not, considering that returning to the file to interpret the text leads to the definitive confirmation that the objective of the investigation is first the Bank of Lebanon. Consequently, several parliamentarians confirm that the fear that the insertion of the phrase “as indicated in Parliament’s decision” (parallel to the investigation between the Banque du Liban and other institutions) is aimed at bombarding the law, is not appropriate , because even if the request for information from all interested parties is assumed By checking at the same time, this does not mean that the results will be released simultaneously. Also, it is not necessary to hire an audit firm to perform the audit at all target institutions. In addition, the law is clear in emphasizing that it is about criminal audits “decided and decided by the government.” In this way, it confirms the decision made by the Hassan Diab government regarding the audit of the Bank of Lebanon accounts specifically. This leads to the possibility of reviving the contract signed with the company “Alvarez & Marsal”, allowing it to resume the work it had begun, noting that informed sources confirm that the company, and in an official correspondence, confirmed that it does not care about this once that he obtained guarantees that allow him to carry out his work. . And this was actually achieved with the passage of the law. If this happens, it is possible to contract another company to carry out criminal audits in other official institutions and departments.
It does not relieve anxiety. The Bank Party will spare no effort to hinder the audit process, as it has done for a year to date. Will the “parallel” argument be the new candlestick, after the bank secrecy argument has fallen? Al Ain will head to the Finance Ministry affiliated with President Nabih Berri. Either it restores the work with «Alvarez & Marsal» even with a new contract, but is limited to the Bank of Lebanon, or it deliberately obstructs the criminal audit at the bank, seeking to assign the task of auditing the accounts of all the institutions to a company. In practice, this would mean wasting the audit at the Banque du Liban again, first because one year will not be enough to audit all state accounts, and second because such a contract can take months to negotiate and then sign (especially if it is opens the door to the introduction of new companies), a period that will be deducted from the year that the law marks, which begins from the moment of its publication in the Official Gazette.
Generic drug adoption
The House of Representatives approved the modification of the Pharmaceutical Practice Law to allow the approval of generic drugs. With this amendment, the pharmacist has the right to dispense a drug with a generic name to the prescription holder, even if it is not mentioned in it. The paragraph that required mandatory approval by the doctor of the prescription for replacement or not, according to the form approved by the Ministry of Public Health, was canceled.
Damage to money in guarantee is prohibited
The law for the protection of security funds was one of the most important things that Parliament approved yesterday. According to him, it is absolutely prohibited to dispose, deduct or deduct from the funds and debts of the Social Security of any party and whatever the nature of this behavior, especially in terms of economic or monetary measures to address the economic or monetary situation. It is also prohibited for any person, including the Council of Ministers or the Central Bank, and all Lebanese or foreign banks operating in Lebanon, to compromise social security funds and debts. The provisions of this law include all the funds of the fund deposited in the central bank or banks operating in Lebanon, in particular: the bank deposits belonging to this fund and its funds subscribed in treasury bonds, or certificates of deposit in the bank. central, and any fund invested in its favor or deposited in it or financial bonds whatever. Its type. The depositor or investor with him must pay these funds immediately upon request and in the currency in which they are deposited. These funds and deposits are also payable and delivered to the fund prior to any deposit and under any circumstances, especially in cases of bankruptcy, dissolution, liquidation, or cessation of payment. The banks must pay all the contributions made by the fund from the accounts opened with them immediately, to the insured and the interested beneficiaries, without any delay.
Waiver of mechanical fees
The Council approved the bill introduced by Representatives Yassin Jaber and Amin Shri to exempt all private and public motor vehicles, motorcycles and ready-to-rent motor vehicles from the annual traffic fee for the years 2020 and 2021. According to the law, public automobiles, passenger buses, and designated rental automobiles will receive a 100 percent exemption. As for private vehicles and motorcycles, they will be exempt, depending on the number of horses and the year of manufacture, at a rate that ranges between 70 and 90 percent. The cars will not be exempt from taxes in some cases, such as if the number of horses is greater than 51 horses and the date of manufacture is after 2005 …
