Cabinet to Discuss Spending Draft-Laws Hailed by Change and Reform Bloc

The cabinet is set to discuss on Wednesday the detailed accounts of the extra-budgetary spending made by the governments of ex-PMs Fouad Saniora and Saad Hariri between 2006 and 2010.

The information that is detailed by the finance ministry in five separate draft-laws was circulated to cabinet ministers in an appendix for discussion by the government in addition to the 76-item agenda.

Copies of the draft-laws were obtained by An Nahar, which said each draft details the extra-budgetary spending of each year.

The head of the parliamentary finance and budget committee, MP Ibrahim Kanaan, who is a member of Michel Aoun’s Change and Reform bloc, hailed the finance ministry’s detailed accounts.

The bloc had insisted on a breakdown of accounts for the $11 billion spent by Saniora’s two governments, which has been at the center of a dispute between the bloc and the March 14 opposition, mainly al-Mustaqbal movement.

Another $5 billion was spent by Hariri’s national unity cabinet in 2010 but the major controversy lies on the $11 billion which Aoun’s bloc claims was riddled with embezzlement.

Without the government’s approval of the new draft-laws on the 2006-2010 spending, parliament will be unable to discuss a cabinet bill to legalize $5.9 billion in extra-budgetary spending made by Premier Najib Miqati’s cabinet in 2011.

The March 14 lawmakers had boycotted two parliamentary sessions over their rejection to approve the bill without any comprehensive settlement to the extra-budgetary spending.

Kanaan told An Nahar that following the approval of the draft-laws by the cabinet, they will be referred to the finance and budget committee for scrutiny.

“This is a first step towards regaining the culture of law and public accountability which alone would allow Lebanon to control its revenues, expenditures and combat financial corruption that has been rampant for years,” he stressed.