Hezbollah has turned its campaign to investigate the disappearance of public funds to al-Mustaqbal movement’s former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, who was in office between 2005 and 2009.
The party said that between 2006 and 2007, when Hezbollah ministers had boycotted cabinet sessions, top figures were responsible for “a premeditated organized chaos” aimed to waste public funds.
Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah alleged in a press conference he held at the Parliament Monday that there were manipulated and missing financial documents that could incriminate top figures, who still practice politics.
Fadlallah, who is in charge of Hezbollah’s anti-corruption bureau, called on ministers, MPs and members of the judiciary to “shoulder their responsibility” to put a stop to corruption.
At the time, Hezbollah and its allies boycotted government sessions to protest the UN sponsored tribunal to try those accused of assassinating the former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri, in 2005.
Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat on Monday that money spent during Siniora’s premiership is documented and registered in state records.
Fadlallah also said millions of dollars donated to Lebanon following the 2006 July war between Hezbollah and Israel had not been duly reported but transferred to the Higher Relief Committee instead.
"The money that came was enough to cover the war damages and restore the infrastructure. I am responsible for what I am saying; where did the money go?" he asked.
However, Mustaqbal movement sources denied the accusations saying, the donations were spent only after receiving the green light from the donor states. “It is not up to the Lebanese state to determine where those funds would be spent.”
The movement does not mind taking the file to the Judiciary.
Mustaqbal MP Sami Fatfat told Asharq Al-Awsat that anyone who has documents implicating the government in wrong doing should head to the judiciary rather than making random accusations.
