Gebran Bassil, an MP, former minister and son-in-law to the president, was sanctioned by the US on Friday. (AFP/Joseph Eid)
Gebran Bassil claimed yesterday that the US sanctioned him due to his refusal to abandon ties with Hezbollah, and not for corruption. According to the FPM leader, Washington contacted him with an ultimatum to end his alliance with Hezbollah, which he refused, leading to his blacklisting. The US designated Bassil on Friday for corruption, the first Lebanese politician sanctioned pursuant to Washington’s Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act. The US contended that during Bassil’s final weeks as energy minister in early 2014 he “was involved in approving several projects that would have steered Lebanese government funds to individuals close to him through a group of front companies.” Bassil said in a televised speech that he does not have “a plane, palace, yacht or bank account abroad,” a reference to the offshore wealth of leading Lebanese politicians.
Activists gathered Saturday outside Banque du Liban in Beirut to protest delays to the forensic audit of the central bank. Dozens of demonstrators briefly blocked the road outside BDL’s headquarters, while a few threw rocks at the building, in an otherwise tranquil affair. Meanwhile, supporters of the FPM rallied the same day in a parking lot next to the McDonald’s in Baabda pushing for the audit to go ahead. Following a meeting last Thursday with President Michel Aoun and BDL Gov. Riad Salameh, caretaker Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni announced a three-month extension for the central bank to hand over documents to auditor Alvarez & Marsal. BDL failed to meet last week’s deadline for the disclosure, using the dubious legal grounds that it was prohibited to do so by the country’s banking secrecy rules.
Cabinet’s COVID-19 committee will meet today to make recommendations to combat the pandemic. Those will go to the Higher Defense Council, which meets tomorrow amid talk from officials of a new general lockdown. Until they decide, public and private schools will be closed. Lebanese authorities have struggled to implement restrictive measures in the country amid pushback from a population struggling through quickly deteriorating economic conditions. The country registered 1,769 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, and 1,139 on Sunday, usually a day of lower numbers due to fewer tests. Fifteen percent of local tests came back positive over the weekend, indicating a prevalence of undetected cases, while 23 more people died, bringing the death toll to 723.
Lebanon and Israel return to the negotiating table on Wednesday to continue maritime border talks. Following the last round of dialogue on Oct. 28 and 29, eyes turned to Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, who promised to address the issue in his televised speech also scheduled for this Wednesday. Political leaders have pinned hopes on successful border talks helping unlock petroleum riches for Lebanon, despite initial exploration efforts not finding commercially viable reserves. Lebanese officials have insisted the talks do not represent a normalization of ties with Israel, although Palestinian representatives have not been included in the negotiations.
Lebanon is expected to participate in a Russian-organized conference in Damascus on the return of Syrian refugees scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday. Our sister publication L’Orient-Le-Jour reported that President Michel Aoun has decided to delegate caretaker Social Affairs and Tourism Minister Ramzi Musharrafieh to represent the country at the gathering. The office of the president has yet to make an announcement on the matter. Lebanese politicians, especially Aoun and his son-in-law, Gebran Bassil, have blamed Syrian refugees for problems caused by poor governance in the country.
The American University of Beirut holds student elections Friday, following votes at other schools that served up stinging rebukes to the country’s established political powers. At AUB, student clubs affiliated with the FPM, Future Movement and Hezbollah will boycott the vote, citing "faults" in election preparations and the use of electronic voting. Ninety-four independent candidates are contesting the elections under the Campus Choice campaign supported by the university’s Secular Club. The club dubbed the political parties’ boycott “nothing but a declaration of defeat in disguise.” Independent students notched partial successes against political parties in the Rafik Hariri University elections on Nov. 2 and the Lebanese American University votes last month.
