Lebanese President Michel Aoun has warned that “anyone who plunders the treasury” will be taken to trial, saying Lebanon entered a “new stage” after the government gained parliament’s vote of confidence.
Aoun spoke on Wednesday during his meeting at Baabda Palace with a delegation of honorary consuls in Lebanon led by Joseph Habis, the dean of the consular corps in the country, who is also honorary consul general of Singapore.
Commenting on the need to crack down on corruption, Aoun said: “Anyone who plunders the treasury will be taken to trial in accordance with the laws, and under a court specializing in financial crimes involving public money."
He reiterated that Lebanon’s financial and economic crises “require measures that will be relatively painful for the Lebanese.”
But Aoun stressed that “a new stage has begun after the government gained confidence.”
Prime Minister Hassan Diab's cabinet won on Tuesday votes from the majority of parliament members present in the 128-member legislature. At the end of the day, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said 63 legislators voted in favor, 20 did not give a vote of confidence and one abstained.
