House Speaker, Nabih Berri, on Tuesday called for a general parliamentary session at 2.00 pm on Friday, Nov 27, 2020, at the UNESCO palace, to discuss the content of the letter sent by the President of the Republic to the Parliament, in order to take the appropriate decision in this regard.
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, had addressed the Parliament in a letter via the Parliament Speaker calling on MPs to “cooperate with the executive authority in order to enable the state to conduct a forensic accounting audit of Central Bank accounts.
The President demanded that this letter be discussed in the Parliament according to rules and regulations, and to take the position, procedure or decision regarding it, pointing to the need for cooperation with the executive authority “which does not prevent the conduct of business from taking appropriate decisions when it is urgently necessary”.
In the letter, President Aoun also presented the stages that were passed by the approval of forensic accounting audit since last 24th of March, and the decisions taken by the Council of Ministers in this regard, leading to a contract with Alvarez and Marsal company to carry-out the task of forensic audit in implementation of the Cabinet decision. The President also highlighted the obstacles which arose preventing the company from carrying out its tasks, especially the issue of bank secrecy, and the reluctance to deliver the required documents and information despite the legal protection that was available for this delivery, up to the point of the company’s request to terminate the contract on 20/11/2020.
In addition, President Aoun considered what happened a “serious setback to the logic of the state and the interests of the Lebanese, who are suffering from the aggravating monetary, economic, social crises, including the Corona pandemic and Beirut Port explosion”.
Source: NNA