Rifi: Suleiman Was Not Fully Informed of What Happened at Telecom Ministry Building

Internal Security Forces chief Major General Ashraf Rifi stated that he has not yet looked into the President Michel Suleiman’s demand for legal action to be taken against him following his refusal to abide by caretaker Interior Minister Ziad Baroud’s order to evacuate a Telecom Ministry building last week.

He told the daily An Nahar in remarks published on Tuesday: “I have not examined his demand and I don’t know what it’s based upon.”

“I believe that the president was not fully informed of the details of what happened that day and I therefore I don’t think that what I did could be considered a refusal to obey orders,” he explained.

“I received Baroud’s orders at 2:00 pm on Thursday and I sent a response clarifying my position on the matter three hours later, but he held his press conference before he had a chance to look into it,” Rifi continued.

An Nahar revealed that businessmen and economic bodies are expected to hold a meeting on Wednesday in order to discuss the repercussions the current crisis is having on the economic sector.

Rifi has stressed that he was performing his “national duty” when he dispatched an Intelligence Bureau unit on Thursday to protect the second floor of a building affiliated with the Telecom Ministry in al-Adliyeh district, Future News television quoted him as saying on Monday.

He described his step as “legal,” saying that it falls within his jurisdiction.

The ISF chief said the issue was blown out of proportion, adding that “what’s happening today resembles what happened concerning the security agreement with the United States and the issue of ‘false witnesses’. It turned out that we were right.”

Suleiman has requested that the justice ministry take legal action against Rifi over his refusal to obey the orders of Baroud, who has absolved himself of his duties as a caretaker minister in wake of the incident.

On Thursday, Baroud had ordered Rifi to pull out Intelligence Bureau personnel from the second floor of the al-Adliyeh building, where OGERO Telecom is in charge of the installations of a third mobile network donated by China to Lebanon according to a cabinet resolution.