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BEIRUT — The cabinet is set to vote in its meeting Tuesday on a decision that removes some of the powers of Lebanon’s top prosecutor, Ghassan Oueidat.
Here’s what we know:
• After suspending its meetings for months, the cabinet is convening Tuesday to discuss and potentially vote on 76 decisions, one of which is a law that removes some powers from Oueidat.
• Amine Saliba, a lecturer in constitutional law in Lebanon and the Arab region, told L’Orient Today on Monday that the pending law aims to remove Oueidat’s power to make the final call in a situation where a higher authority in the Lebanese administration rejects the prosecution of one of its employees. For instance, the approval of the finance minister is needed to prosecute an employee of the Finance Ministry and currently, Oueidat has the power to overrule a decision of this nature and decide whether or not to pursue prosecution.
• “The problem is that they intend to remove [the authority] from Oueidat and give it to the justice minister, who is trying to correct something wrong by doing wrong himself,'' Saliba said. “The way to do it is to give this authority to one of the courts, like the Appellate Court, instead of giving it to one person,” Saliba added.
• Saliba also said that he does not think the decision will be approved “because it’s coming from a political maneuvering approach and not for the right reasons.”
• The port blast probe led by Judge Tarek Bitar has repeatedly been suspended due to legal complaints that call for the removal of Bitar. Top officials, including former ministers, have been summoned for investigation, few of whom have shown up. Some, like the General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim, did not have their immunity lifted by Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi or his predecessor Mohamad Fahmi, which prevented Bitar from prosecuting him. Thus, the decision to change who has the final say in pursuing a prosecution could affect the future of the blast probe.