On March 26, Abou Faour, from the Progressive Socialist Party, annulled the license given to businessman Pierre Fattouche, owner of Al-Arz, by his predecessor, Hussein Hajj Hassan, from Hezbollah. Abou Faour’s decision sided with residents of Ain Dara and environmentalists who say that the permit is damaging and marred by irregularities.
Al-Arz announced the State Council’s decision on April 23 in a statement saying that Abou Faour annulled the permit “in ways that are illegal and non-concordant with the previous judicial decision [on] the industrial permit… granted by former minister Hajj Hassan.”
“This ruling confirms that Abou Faour’s decision ran counter to the laws in force and to previous decisions. It has permanently established the legal character of the license granted to al-Arz along with its right to build, equip and operate its industrial complex, and doing so in a decisive manner,” the statement continued.
“This verdict proves that no governmental or administrative authority has the prerogative to cancel such a license. This is proof that Minister Abou Faour’s decision was hasty, unfair, illegal and not made to serve the public interest. Rather, it was fueled by a narrow political agenda aimed at realizing the interests of his own political party,” it concluded.
“Where are the other leaders?”
Antoine Haddad, vice-president of the Democratic Renewal Movement, whose family hails from Ain Dara, responded to the State Council’s decision in a statement, saying: “No decision can weaken the determination of the residents of the locality to defend their right, and that of their children, to live in a clean environment free of deadly pollution.”
According to Hadded, who has leaded the campaign against the cement plant, denounced the “extent of the illegitimate and unlawful interests that have prevailed for decades in the mountains of Ain Dara (referring to quarries that also belong to Fattouche), estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars, as well as the extent of the financial resources from both officials and supporters in Lebanon and abroad. These financial supplies help the owners of the plant to ensure its sustainability, even to the detriment of the population and to its right to live.”
Haddad reiterated his trust in Abou Faour and his “fair and courageous decision”.
“We ask, however, other politicians and parties, who launched an anti-corruption offensive and requested the restitution of state properties, to not only settle for being witnesses of this blatant abuse perpetrated for decades against Ain Dara, which is a peaceful village as well as a symbol of coexistence and attachment to its native land. The silence of those responsible for such abuse falls in the rank of complicity,” Haddad went on to say.
Abou Faour’s office issued a particularly strong and harsh statement denouncing the way the State Council’s decision was announced and questioning the objectivity of “certain” magistrates. Abou Farou said he was particularly surprised that “the cement plant, and not the related ministry, was notified of the decision, which is a scandal in and of itself as well as an infraction that requires an investigation, especially given the suspicious relationship between the owners of the company and some judges, as proven by the notorious State Council’s decision which forced the Lebanese State to pay the owners of the company an astronomical sum reaching up to more than $200 million.”
The Fattouches, brothers of former deputy Nicolas Fattouche, who is their lawyer, pressed charges in 2006 to claim compensation for their quarries being shut down for two years as part of the implementation of a master plan adopted by the government at the time. The Fattouches won the case and were granted compensation equivalent to $250 million at the time.
The Ministry of Industry asked the justice minister and the Office of Judiciary Inspection to start an investigation after condemning the fact that a company had become the spokesperson for the State Council by publishing a press release containing “judicial accusations as well as false allegations, which represent additional ground for further investigation.” The Ministry of Industry promised to pursue “the legal battle of this case.”
When L’Orient-Le Jour (OLJ) contacted Haddad, he didn’t seem surprised by the decision “For us, such a decision does not change anything. We will continue our fight because it’s a matter of life and death. We will fight for our way of life and for the right of future generations to enjoy a healthy environment. The damages that the quarries (owned by Fattouche) have caused to the region are very obvious.”
In addition, he pointed out that the State Council’s 2006 decision “to allocate the owner of the cement plant the sum of 400 billion Lebanese Pounds (about $265 million) for the closure of his quarries, has never been applied”.
(This article was originally published in French in L'Orient-Le Jour on the 26th of April)