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On Wednesday, December 02, 2020, the Lebanese judiciary charged the former army chief, General Jean Kahwagi, and seven other senior officers based on the new illicit enrichment law, according to the National Media Agency and a judicial source, in the first accusation of its kind since the approval of this law.
In a country where officials and politicians are accused of corruption, the agency pointed out that it is “the first time that complaints have been made under the new law on illicit enrichment in accordance with article 11 of the same”, since the Parliament approved in September.
The agency reported that “the government commissioner to the military court, Acting Judge Fadi Akiki (…) conducted an investigation involving a large number of front-line officers, focusing on property, companies and funds.”
He claimed that Beirut’s Attorney General for Appeals, Judge Ziyad Abu Haidar, indicted General Kahwaji, a former army commander between 2008 and 2017, and the seven officers.
According to the same source, the file was forwarded to the first investigating judge of Beirut, Charbel Abu Samra, who set the session for Wednesday, December 9, to begin the investigation of the accused.
The Lebanese authority seeks to defend what has been achieved in the fight against corruption, a year after the unprecedented popular uprising that demanded the departure of the entire political class, accusing it of corruption and neglect.
In a year, the House of Representatives passed two anti-corruption laws, in an attempt by political parties to calm the street on the one hand and to satisfy the international community, which is calling on Lebanon to make the necessary reforms to gain financial support. get you out of the cycle of economic collapse.
In light of the severe economic collapse in Lebanon, the political class continues to share actions with each other and determine the form of governments and their members.
For its part, a judicial source indicated that among the accused military personnel were the former director of Kahwaji’s office, retired Brigadier General Muhammad Jaafar al-Husseini, as well as retired Major General Abd al-Rahman Shehitli, the former director of Intelligence Brigadier General Kamil Daher, Former Intelligence Director, Brigadier General Edmond Fadel, Retired Former Intelligence Director AND Former Northern Intelligence Director, Retired Brigadier General Amer al-Hassan and a retired Lieutenant Colonel for General Security, Ahmad al-Jamal.
The source added that the Beirut Prosecutor’s Office attributed to the officers “the commission of crimes of illicit enrichment and the exploitation of their official positions to reap huge fortunes and sums of money, through the disbursement of influence, accepting bribes and admitting officers in the Army Lebanese in exchange for huge sums of money, and rendering services to the powerful in exchange for personal gain. ”
The judicial source explained that the Beirut Public Ministry’s accusation against former military leaders “was based on the discriminatory referral of the Public Ministry, which requested that a public process be initiated against him, based on information provided by politicians, reports published by visual and written media, and videos that spoke of the enormous fortunes that the defendants made during their official positions. “
He noted that the investigation revealed that “the size of the property, real estate, cars and houses of the agents involved does not correlate with the value of the salaries and compensation they received during retirement.”
The National Media Agency referred to a case from several years ago, explaining that “the lawyer Wadih Akl published on the OTV screen an image of the minutes of the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Bank of Funds, which gives the general Jean Kahwaji the right to deposit $ 1,200,000 in each of the joint accounts. Between him and his family. “
