Naharnet

Report: Berri's Huge Efforts Stopped Aoun, Diab from Firing Salameh

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri exerted major efforts prior to Friday’s two cabinet sessions to prevent President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Hassan Diab from sacking Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh in connection with the dramatic currency crash, reports said.

Parliamentary and ministerial sources told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in remarks published Sunday that Berri had flown from Msayleh to Baabda in an army helicopter to take part in a meeting with Aoun and Diab that preceded the second cabinet session.

“He had spent Thursday night communicating with all the involved parties to block the insistence of the president and the PM -- and through them Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil -- from ousting Salameh,” the sources said.

“Berri did not sleep before managing to stop the firing of Salameh and removing his sacking from the agendas of the two cabinet sessions,” added the sources.

“The shelving of Salameh’s removal encouraged Berri to move from Msayleh to Baabda in search of exits to halt the deterioration of the lira exchange rate,” the sources went on to say.


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